The executive-chair handover is becoming the default

At a glance: Between 6 and 7 October 2026, Stryker, General Dynamics and Highmark Health each announced a CEO succession taking effect on 1 January 2027, with the departing chief executive becoming executive chair. Spencer Stiles succeeds Kevin Lobo at Stryker, Danny Deep succeeds Phebe Novakovic at General Dynamics and Karen Hanlon succeeds David Holmberg at Highmark. All three successors were serving presidents. The pattern raises a practical governance question: continuity or a second centre of power?

Three successions, one template

The announcements came within 48 hours of each other and followed almost the same script.

On 6 October, Stryker said Kevin Lobo would move from chief executive to executive chair of the board on 1 January 2027, with Spencer Stiles, currently president and chief operating officer, becoming CEO and joining the board on the same day. Lobo joined Stryker in 2011, became CEO in October 2012 and was named board chair in July 2014. Stiles has been with the company since 1999 and became president and COO in January 2026, after serving as group president, orthopaedics. The company's lead independent director, Sheri McCoy, described the move as the culmination of a long-term succession planning process.

The same day, Highmark Health said its board had appointed Karen Hanlon as chief executive and president from 1 January 2027. David Holmberg, CEO since 2014, will become executive chairman and work with Hanlon and the board on the handover. Hanlon joined Highmark in 1997, became chief financial officer in 2014, chief operating officer in 2018 and president in 2025. She will be the first woman to lead the Pittsburgh-based health organisation as CEO.

On 7 October, General Dynamics said its board had elected Danny Deep as chief executive from 1 January 2027. Phebe Novakovic, CEO since 2013, becomes executive chairman. Deep, a 25-year company veteran, became president in 2025 and previously ran global operations, combat systems and the Land Systems business.

Why boards like the model

The logic is easy to see. Each outgoing leader presided over a long run of growth. Stryker's sales rose from $8.7 billion in 2012 to more than $26 billion this year, and the company completed more than 60 acquisitions under Lobo. General Dynamics reported $52.6 billion of revenue in 2025 and employs more than 120,000 people. Highmark says its revenue has grown from about $17 billion in 2014 to a projected figure close to $35 billion by the end of this year.

When a CEO has built relationships with investors, regulators and major customers over a decade or more, removing that person overnight carries risk. Keeping them as executive chair gives the board a bridge. Lobo framed it in exactly those terms: "Now is the right time for this leadership transition," he said, adding that "The Board and I have worked closely on a succession plan."

There is a second, less discussed reason. All three successors were already presidents, a role that usually signals the board's choice well before any announcement. The executive-chair step turns a long internal apprenticeship into a formal relay, with the predecessor still on hand for the first year.

The shadow-CEO risk

WCRC analysis: The weakness of the model is equally clear. An executive chair is, by definition, an executive. That means two people with operating credibility, one of them the new CEO's former boss, sitting at the top of the same organisation. If the division of labour is not written down, employees and investors will work out for themselves whose view carries more weight, and they may not reach the answer the board intended.

The risk is sharpest where the departing leader has a long tenure and a strong personal brand. Novakovic has run General Dynamics since January 2013. Lobo has been Stryker's CEO since 2012 and its chair since 2014. Holmberg has led Highmark for 12 years. Those are long shadows.

In WCRC's view, the best protection is a clear end date for the executive-chair period and a published split of responsibilities. None of the three announcements set out how long the executive-chair period will last, and the releases say little about which decisions sit with the chair and which with the chief executive. That is the detail shareholders and staff should watch for in the coming months.

At Highmark the structure has an extra layer: Greg Jordan currently chairs the board, so it remains to be seen how his role and Holmberg's new title will fit together.

What makes it work

WCRC analysis: Where the arrangement succeeds, a few conditions tend to hold. The successor has visible authority from day one, including over the senior team. The executive chair's remit is narrow and external: investors, government relationships, a defined set of strategic projects. And there is a date when the chair either becomes non-executive or leaves.

The three successors start with advantages. Stiles has nearly three decades at Stryker and has worked across its orthopaedics, medical-surgical and neurotechnology businesses. Deep has run the operations that drive General Dynamics' combat-systems revenue. Hanlon has been CFO, COO and president. None needs a year of on-the-job induction. That raises the question of what the executive chair is there to do, and boards should be able to answer it in one sentence.

The wider signal

Three announcements in one week do not make a statistical trend, and WCRC does not claim one here. But they do show that, for large organisations with long-serving leaders, the executive-chair handover has become a familiar option rather than an exception. Boards choosing it are betting that continuity is worth the cost of ambiguity. The next 12 months at Stryker, General Dynamics and Highmark will show whether that bet pays off.

What it means for leaders

• If you are planning a succession with an executive-chair step, write down the split of decision rights before the announcement, not after.
• Set an end date for the executive-chair role, or a review point, and say so publicly.
• Give the incoming CEO authority over the senior team from the first day, so reporting lines are not split.
• Use the president or COO role as a visible proving ground, as all three of these boards did.
• Brief investors and staff on who to go to for what; ambiguity fills quickly with rumour.

Quick answers

Q: Who is Stryker's next CEO? A: Spencer Stiles, Stryker's president and chief operating officer, becomes CEO on 1 January 2027. Kevin Lobo becomes executive chair of the board.

Q: Who will succeed Phebe Novakovic at General Dynamics? A: Danny Deep, the company's president and a 25-year veteran, becomes CEO on 1 January 2027. Novakovic becomes executive chairman.

Q: Who is Highmark Health's new CEO? A: Karen Hanlon, currently president, becomes CEO and president on 1 January 2027, the first woman to lead Highmark Health as CEO. David Holmberg becomes executive chairman.