good morning. Companies are actively seeking on-demand interim C-suite leaders as chaos and uncertainty continues.
We talked to Sunny Ackerman, global managing partner of Heidrick & Struggle’s on-demand talent. He shared some eye-opening statistics. Demand for interim leaders from the company’s clients has skyrocketed 310% since 2020. This is one of the survey results explained in the 2025 High-End Independent Human Resources Report. release Heidrick & Struggles and Business Talent Group (BTG).
Among C-Suite sales, interim executives will allow businesses to take advantage of a high-end, experienced, talented pool, Ackerman told me. For example, CFO sales at Fortune 500 companies increased 33% year-on-year, based on data from January 1st to April 6th, according to data from Heidrick & Struggle.
However, Ackerman said the need for interim talent is not just when an executive leaves the company or assumes a new role, but rather leaves the job. It’s also when organizations need “critical talent at critical times,” she said.
The analysis found that interim CFOs accounted for half (51%) of all interim leadership requests within C-Suite. “The type of request we see really highlights such a critical role that financial leaders play,” Ackerman explained. Companies want executives with financial expertise to quickly evaluate and grasp financial management, audits, or financial planning and analysis. “The CFO and their team are on the forefront of helping organizations stabilize and optimize the company,” she said.
The chart below shows the percentage of provisional requests for various C-sweet readers. This report provides an annual analysis of BTG proprietary data for leading and medium-sized companies in the US and European markets.
Ackerman noted that companies are also expanding their use of interim leadership beyond their top tiers. “The roles at the SVP and VP level account for about 33% of requests,” she said. Meanwhile, she added that demand below VP is up 23% year-on-year. For businesses, this expansion into different sectors is to maintain stability in these times, Ackerman said.
Interim executives usually stay in the company for six to nine months to promote certain types of change, she said. For example, demand for AI and machine learning professionals increased by 46% year-on-year.
The Healthcare and Life Sciences, Industry and Consumer Markets are the top three client industries for BTG’s interim talent. Healthcare companies are streamlining operations that either encourage restructuring or cost reductions, or are planning to restructure an operational restructuring, Ackerman said. Meanwhile, in the industry, she said, interim executives need to manage some of the volatility, especially for companies that import or export products.
Do you have any trends that stand out against Ackermann compared to last year’s discoveries? “Companies are using business strategy and technology experts to assess AI opportunities. We’ve seen that they’re actually beginning to accelerate quite a bit.”
Cheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com.
