Key takeaways

• New leaders at Target, Harley-Davidson, and Funko will compete with Americans’ shifting spending habits

• Procter & Gamble and Athleta are counting on industry experience to drive growth

• Evolving U.S. tariffs are top of mind for CEOs

The latest batch of new CEOs look to steer through an up-and-down economy in 2025.

With inflation buzzing across the U.S. — holding at 2.7% compared to last year — and the economy growing (but slowing) in the first half of 2025, many American consumers and businesses look to top leaders like chief executive officers to help navigate what’s coming next.¹

Only a third of Americans hope to take on a C-suite role, though Millennials are the most motivated (39%), according to Empower research.

The C-suite itself has taken on new meaning, adding specialists like chief happiness officers and chief wellness officers to focus on employee growth. This additional high-level support can give CEOs more latitude to focus on companywide initiatives and new business lines.

Just as 2024 saw notable leadership shakeups across iconic brands, 2025 has been busy with outgoing and incoming CEOs hoping to reframe what it means to lead a company in today’s economic environment.

Industry-specific leaders

Five Fortune 500 companies are looking to those with decades of industry knowledge for their next CEOs.

After seeing little year-over-year growth with $1.3 billion in sales last year, Gap Inc.’s Athleta activewear brand looks to stretch the business with Maggie Gauger — a 20-year veteran at sports giant Nike — who started as CEO in August. She had been leading Nike’s North American business, which may help Athleta position itself more prominently in the crowded space as Americans have pulled back on clothing and footwear spending.²

Consumer goods heavyweight Procter & Gamble will move its current chief operating officer, Shailesh Jejurikar — who has been with the company since 1989 — into the CEO seat in January.³ P&G will face the retirement of its beauty division CEO, Alexandra Keith, in February. Keith has worked at the company for more than 36 years, and no specific successor has been named.⁴

New leadership comes at a crossroads for P&G, the maker of Tide laundry detergent and other household staples. Despite quarterly net sales rising above expectations to $20.9 billion, tariffs could add $1 billion to its annual costs, as leadership noted during the company’s July earnings call.⁵

Hershey has tapped further into Americans’ snack habits — that side of the business has reached 10% of the company’s sales — and new CEO Kirk Tanner could expand the reach. The former CEO of Wendy’s also spent time at PepsiCo.⁶

Big-box giant Target named its current chief operating officer, Michael Fiddelke, as its next CEO starting in February. A 20-year company veteran, Fiddelke will focus on merchandising and technology-driven efficiencies, he said while reporting Target’s latest second-quarter earnings, which were better than analysts had predicted but still showed a slowdown in consumer spending.⁷

Tariffs are also weighing heavy for the world’s fourth-largest carmaker, Stellantis, which expects to see a $1.7 billion impact from them this year. After starting as CEO in June, Antonio Filosa has put energy behind relaunching the discontinued Jeep Cherokee.8 Filosa has worked in the auto industry for 25 years.⁹

C-suite refresh

Meanwhile, other companies are bringing in fresh faces to tackle company growth.

Harley-Davidson’s new CEO Artie Starrs — formerly of Topgolf’s entertainment division — will take a swing starting in October at balancing tariff commitments and mixed consumer demand for motorcycles. On the books is a plan for a model costing less than $6,000.¹⁰

During parent company Topgolf Callaway Brands’ latest earnings call in August, Starrs mentioned the success of Topgolf’s summer pass, which has sold over twice the amount since it was last offered, and that traffic to the golf venues rose 6% year over year.¹¹

This industry pivot still leaves the incoming CEO navigating the pressure of Americans’ shifting spending habits. While some consumers are buying into the experience economy, 32% of people are reducing discretionary spending to lower their financial stress, according to Empower research.

Toymaker Funko is looking to the entertainment space to boost declining collectibles sales. Netflix consumer product leader Josh Simon will start as Funko’s CEO on September 1. During his five years at Netflix, Simon had launched its first e-commerce platform and developed merchandise for marquee titles like “Squid Game” and “Stranger Things.”^12,13

Drugmaker Novo Nordisk is mixing up its top office with incoming CEO Maziar Mike Doustda, as it turns to its first non-Danish leader to try and bolster its hold in the U.S. market. The company is known widely for its weight-loss drug, Wegovy, and diabetes counterpart, Ozempic, and the American market accounts for than half of the company’s global sales.¹⁴ GLP-1 drugs like Wegovy have been seeing rapid growth in the U.S., with one in eight adults having tried the medications and 6% currently using them.

Leaders can find value in growing their reach: Nearly 40% of current CEOs say their companies have expanded into new sectors over the past five years.

Read more: Investing in Yourself: Think like a CEO

Doubling down on innovation

Other CEO shifts are coming as leaders find new opportunities to push their overarching goals and American innovation forward.

The founder and CEO of Uber Freight, Lior Ron, is moving to become the chief operating officer of startup Waabi, to focus on accelerating the autonomous trucking industry. Rebecca Tinucci — the existing leader of Uber’s electrification arm — will step in as CEO of Uber Freight, which has hit $5 billion in annual revenue and now manages nearly $20 billion in freight. The company serves as a platform to connect shippers and carriers, and has been testing Waabi’s technology for self-driving tractor-trailers.¹⁵

Microsoft acquired developer platform GitHub for $7.5 billion seven years ago, and GitHub’s latest CEO Thomas Dohmke is leaving the role to found a new unspecified startup. With no direct replacement, GitHub will get a leadership redesign. The transition allows Microsoft to more fully integrate the team into the wider enterprise organization; more GitHub management will be overseen by Microsoft leaders.^16,17

The move comes on the heels of huge growth for its AI coding tool Copilot — which GitHub launched in 2021. In July, Microsoft reported that more than 20 million people use the code editor, with enterprise customers growing 75% over the past quarter.¹⁸

Having strong leaders at the top will be essential as technology — AI in particular — integrates across industries.  Empower research found that 58% of Americans actively use AI at work, and 46% would use it more if they had more training.

Read more: Tech companies stay firm on massive AI spend

Fresh perspectives

Just as revenue and cash flow evolve over time, leadership changes can be business as usual for companies, with the majority of CEOs expecting to stay in their current role for no more than five years. Even this year, the top title may not be forever: Around a third of new CEOs appointed in the first half of 2025 were brought in on an interim basis.¹⁹

As 32% of Americans find work satisfaction in being an inspiring leader, there’s room for workplace programs like mentorship to encourage internal mobility. While not everyone may have C-suite dreams, employee retention can be important for those that do: Close to 60% of Fortune 500 C-suite officers in 2024 moved into their position from within that company.²⁰