A growing number of companies are making this choice. From 2018 to 2023, board-to-CEO appointments increased threefold across the S&P 500 and the Russell 3000. During this period 213 incoming CEOs (10% of the total) came from the board, making board director the fourth-most-common pre-CEO role after chief operating officer (32%), divisional CEO (16%), and president (14%). Not only that, but the majority of those 213 CEOs were permanent hires. In fact, the number of board members selected as permanent CEOs, not interim appointments, rose by 88% from 2018 to 2023. Recent high-profile examples include Larry Culp of GE, Carol Tomé of UPS, Richard Dickson of Gap, and Jim Taiclet of Lockheed Martin.