Between 1 July and 28 September, Executive Moves reported 360 leadership appointments. More than four in ten put a new chief executive or chair in the seat. Here is who moved, where, and what the pattern says about the quarter.
Look closely at this week's cover. The face is not one person. It is built from 244 portraits that ran with our appointment stories this quarter. The face itself is a blend of 63 of those portraits, lined up on the eyes and averaged, so it belongs to no one and to everyone who moved.
By the numbers
All figures count appointment stories published on executive-moves.com between 1 July and 28 September 2026, with duplicate stories removed. They describe what we covered, not the whole market.
- 360 appointment stories, spread evenly across the quarter: 117 in July, 124 in August and 119 in September.
- About 118 new chief executives and about 34 new chairs. Another 38 stories were CFO appointments and 27 were board seats.
- North America featured in 124 stories and the Middle East in 103. The UK and Ireland followed with 64, Asia Pacific with 43, continental Europe with 13 and Africa with 6. (Some stories cover more than one country, so these add up to slightly more than 360.)
- The Middle East matched North America on new chief executives, with about 37 each.
- The busiest countries were the United States (120 stories), the UAE (48), the UK (42), Saudi Arabia (38), Ireland (25) and Australia (23).
The big seats
The quarter's largest handovers came from companies whose names need no introduction.
Apple. John Ternus took over as chief executive on 1 September, succeeding Tim Cook, who became executive chairman. Apple's head of hardware engineering now runs the company.
Adobe. On 3 September Adobe named Anil Chakravarthy president and chief executive, taking over on 1 December. Shantanu Narayen moves to executive chair.
BP. Ian Tyler was confirmed as chair on 2 September after three months in the role on an interim basis.
BioNTech. On 3 August the vaccine maker appointed Guido Oelkers, formerly of Sobi, as chief executive, succeeding co-founder Ugur Sahin.
ConocoPhillips. Andy O'Brien, previously chief financial officer, became president and chief executive on 1 September. Ryan Lance moved to executive chair for a transition period.
Danaher. Julie Sawyer Montgomery was due to take over as president and chief executive on 1 October, succeeding Rainer Blair.
L3Harris Technologies. Sam Mehta was named president and chief executive on 17 August, with immediate effect, after Christopher Kubasik stepped down.
Two more were announced this quarter but take effect later. Volvo Cars named Klaus Zellmer, currently chairman and chief executive of Škoda, as its next president and chief executive, to take over by 1 October 2027. AllianceBernstein named its president, Onur Erzan, to succeed Seth Bernstein as chief executive on 1 April 2027.
The Gulf rewires
The Gulf was the busiest region in our coverage after North America. About three in ten of our appointment stories came from the Middle East, and it matched North America for new chief executives.
In Saudi Arabia, several appointments were made by royal decree or royal order. On 13 August Mazen bin Turki Al-Sudairi became chairman of the Capital Market Authority, with the rank of minister, and Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman was named chairman of the Local Content and Government Procurement Authority. In the private sector, ROSHN Group appointed Naaman Atallah, a former chief executive of Nakheel, as group chief executive on 1 September.
In the UAE, Tabreed confirmed Dr Yousif Al Hammadi as chief executive on 11 September, after he had served as interim chief executive since January.
In Oman, Oman Air appointed Nasser Al Sharji as chief executive from 1 September, succeeding Con Korfiatis.
Across the regions
UK and Ireland. The UK Atomic Energy Authority named Dennis Whyte, the former director of MIT's Plasma Science and Fusion Center, as its chief executive. Rosie Slater-Carr was appointed chief executive of the Church Commissioners for England. Former Bank of England deputy governor Sam Woods was named chair of the International Accounting Standards Board. Barclays named Mike Joo and Adeel Khan as co-chief executives of its investment bank, a structure due in 2027 and subject to regulatory approval.
Asia Pacific. Air India named Tewolde Gebremariam as chief executive and managing director, succeeding Campbell Wilson.
Europe and Africa. Our coverage here was thinner this quarter. Highlights included CEVA Logistics naming Patrick Moebel chief executive and Stanbic Bank Kenya appointing Michael Mutiga.
What the quarter tells us
The outgoing chief stays in the building. Three of the largest handovers kept the departing leader close. At Apple, Tim Cook became executive chairman. At Adobe, Shantanu Narayen moves to executive chair. At ConocoPhillips, Ryan Lance stays on as executive chair for a transition period. In each case the board chose continuity at the top while changing the person running the business day to day. The successors also came from inside: Andy O'Brien was ConocoPhillips' chief financial officer, John Ternus led Apple's hardware engineering, and AllianceBernstein picked its own president, Onur Erzan.
Long runways. Several of the quarter's biggest announcements will not take effect for months. Adobe's handover is set for 1 December, AllianceBernstein's for 1 April 2027, and Volvo Cars' by 1 October 2027. Barclays' new investment bank structure is due in 2027 and still needs regulatory approval. For boards, an early announcement buys an orderly transition. For the incoming leader, it means a long spell of being named but not yet in charge.
Interim seats filled, state seats reshuffled. In the Gulf, several roles moved from caretaker to confirmed. Dr Yousif Al Hammadi had been Tabreed's interim chief executive since January before his appointment in September. At ROSHN, Naaman Atallah took over from an acting group chief executive. In Saudi Arabia, royal decrees and orders reshaped the leadership of key state bodies, including the Capital Market Authority.
What to watch in the fourth quarter. Anil Chakravarthy takes over at Adobe on 1 December, and Julie Sawyer Montgomery begins her first full quarter at Danaher. We will also be watching whether the Gulf keeps its pace, and closing the gap in our own coverage of continental Europe and Africa.
Method
We counted every story in the Appointments section of executive-moves.com published from 1 July to 28 September 2026. We removed six stories that repeated an appointment already reported and one post that was not an appointment. Roles were classified from each headline and checked by hand for the chief executive and chair counts, which is why we give those as approximate figures. Regions follow the country tags on each story. Every named appointment above was checked against the company's own release or an official news agency on 29 September 2026.
