Average CMO Tenure by Index, Sector and Year

What is the average CMO tenure?

S&P 500 CMOs averaged 4.1 years in 2025, ahead of only COOs at 3.3 years and below the 5-year C-suite average.

Average tenure by C-suite role, S&P 500, 2025 (years)

Average tenure by C-suite role, S&P 500, 2025

Label	Value
CEO	7.6 years
All C-suite	5 years
CFO	4.7 years
CMO	4.1 years
COO	3.3 years

What each figure measures

The counts fit together. 346 named CMOs across 500 companies leaves roughly 31% without one.

How CMO tenure compares with other roles

A worked example for planning

In our reading, this is the useful way to read the average. Programs that take two or more years to return a clear signal, such as brand tracking baselines or a first marketing mix model, should start in year one. That leaves time to report results to the board before the tenure is half over. Our first 90 days playbook sets out how to sequence that work.

CMO tenure by year, index and company type

The table below sets out the Spencer Stuart figures by index and company type, with the sample and snapshot date behind each cell. Read each row against its own group. The series moved between indexes, so a change from one year to the next only holds inside one index.

The S&P 500 figure in the section above comes from the 2025 study, which switched index. Do not chain it onto the Fortune 500 row as if it were the 2025 point in that series.

How to read the rows

Check the snapshot date. The 2022 Fortune 500 count was taken at year end and the 2023 and 2024 counts at mid-year. In our reading, that makes the gap between the 2022 and 2023 points closer to six months than a full year.

For a board slide, pick the row that matches your company's index and model, and quote its sample and date in the footnote. The CMO board deck template has a slot for that line. For what the role covers, see our entry on the chief marketing officer (CMO).

Median versus average CMO tenure

Why the two figures split

A worked example

Take a hypothetical peer set of ten CMOs. Eight have served 24 months each. Two have served 120 months each.

• Median: 24 months, because the fifth and sixth CMOs both sit at 24

Two long tenures lift the average by more than 19 months. Eight of the ten CMOs, the large majority, sit well below it. Remove one of the long servers and the average drops sharply while the median barely moves.

Which figure to compare against

We think a sitting CMO should compare against the median. It tells you where the typical peer sits: half have served less, half more. At 30 months in a top 100 advertiser role in 2021, you would have been past the median but still below the average. A CMO who reads only the average can conclude they are behind when they are ahead of most peers.

Why some studies put CMO tenure at 1.8 years

In the Pave data, CMOs sit at 1.8 years against 2.9 for CFOs and 4.3 for CEOs.

Implied executive tenure in the Pave compensation database (years)

Implied executive tenure in the Pave compensation database

Label	Value
CEO	4.3 years
CFO	2.9 years
CMO	1.8 years

The figure is not wrong. It measures a different thing in a different group of companies.

What each number counts

A worked example of why method matters

Take a hypothetical group of 10 CMOs. Eight have served 6 years each. Two seats turn over every year, so those two incumbents have each served under a year. A snapshot of sitting CMOs averages roughly 5 years. A turnover-based measure sees 20% of seats change hands every year and implies a far shorter stay. Both readings are accurate. One describes the people in the chair. The other describes how fast the chair empties.

A line for the board

When a director cites 1.8 years, a short answer works: "That figure is implied from turnover in a mostly tech compensation database. Our peer set is [index or sector], where measured tenure is [figure]. Here is the one we should benchmark against." Then pick the benchmark that matches your size and ownership, and use it in your CMO board deck and your first 90 days plan.

CMO tenure compared with CEO and CFO tenure

On tenure, the chief marketing officer (CMO) sits near the bottom of the S&P 500 C-suite. The table sets the 2025 averages side by side, using Spencer Stuart data reported by Adweek and Spencer Stuart's own C-Suite Snapshot.

The two all-role figures differ slightly. Pick one, name its source and do not mix them in the same board slide.

The 2021 gap

By our arithmetic, the 2025 gap is narrower. CEO tenure of 7.6 years is 3.5 years longer than CMO tenure of 4.1, a ratio of about 1.9 to 1 rather than more than 2 to 1.

What the gap means for your planning horizon

Here is a worked example. A CMO plans on roughly four years, close to the S&P 500 CMO average. The CEO's average sits near 7.6. In our reading, the CEO's strategy will usually outlast the CMO who builds its marketing half. Plan for that:

1. Split the plan by horizon. Mark which outcomes land inside four years and which land later. Brand outcomes tracked through brand tracking often sit in the later group.
2. Put two or three measurable results in year one, so the board sees progress early. Our CMO first 90 days playbook covers the opening moves.
3. Name a successor and document the plan so it can survive a handover. Present both in your CMO board deck as part of the operating plan.

Which sectors keep CMOs longest

CEO turnover by sector, 2024 and 2025

In our reading, a new chief executive often brings a new marketing leader. That makes CEO churn in your sector a leading indicator for your own seat. The figures below come from Spencer Stuart's annual counts of S&P 1500 CEO transitions.

Reading the numbers for your own seat

A worked example: a 14% turnover rate means roughly one company in seven in that sector changed CEO in a year. If you are a healthcare or tech CMO, plan as if a CEO change in the next two years is a realistic scenario, not a remote one.

Three steps we suggest:

1. Track CEO succession signals at your own company: a named COO or president, board refreshes, activist interest.
2. Keep a one-page record of marketing's results that a new CEO can read in ten minutes. Our CMO board deck template works as a base.
3. If a new CEO arrives, run the first conversation like a fresh start. The CMO first 90 days playbook applies even when you are the incumbent.

Why CMOs leave and where they go next

Marketing as a route to CEO

In our reading, this is why boards look at marketing leaders for general management roles: they bring a growth record that finance candidates often have to build later.

How to frame your own tenure

When a board or search committee reads your tenure, give them the destination and the scope, not only the dates.

• Scope at entry and exit. List the budget, headcount and markets you held when you started and when you left.
• Destination. Name the next role and say whether it was lateral, broader or a general management post.
• Growth evidence. Tie your tenure to revenue or pipeline outcomes the board already tracks. Our CMO board deck template sets out a format.

If you are starting a new seat, the first 90 days playbook covers how to set those measures early.

How to use the tenure benchmark for your own role

Treat the benchmark as a planning input. It tells you when boards tend to reassess a chief marketing officer (CMO), so you can schedule your evidence before that point.

Four steps

Worked example

A B2C CMO at a Fortune 500 consumer company is 20 months in. The 4.0-year B2C average is 48 months, which leaves 28 months. The top 100 advertiser average of 3.1 years is about 37 months, which leaves about 17. The consumer-sector average discussed earlier is also short. So the CMO plans to month 23, month 32 and month 44, and starts with the first-90-days playbook logic of restating goals to the board.

Building a record as a first-time or internal CMO

What this page does not cover

This page does not cover CMO compensation, tenure for marketing roles below the C-suite, or tenure at private companies and companies outside the S&P 500, Fortune 500 and top 100 advertisers, other than the turnover-based Pave figure. It is a planning benchmark, not career, legal or financial advice.

Related on CMO Tribune: Marketing budget as a percentage of revenue in 2026, by sector and business model; Marketing team size benchmark, as a share of headcount and by revenue band; Martech Budget Percentage in 2026: 19.4% of the Marketing Budget, a Five-Year Low, and the Stack Audit to Run.