The top CEO departures of 2010

On Sunday, Dec. 5, Jeffrey Kindler, who ran Pfizer for four and a half years, surprised his shareholders by abruptly announcing that he was retiring immediately from the company. He issued a statement saying that he wanted to "recharge his batteries, spend some rare time with his family and prepare for the next challenge ahead."

As companies regain their footing in the wake of the economic crisis, their chief executives continue to leave at a steady pace. According to the outplacement recruiting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, 1,127 chief executives have announced their departures so far this year, almost exactly the same as the 1,122 who had announced by this time last year. Government and nonprofit organizations have seen the heaviest turnover, with 189 CEO departures among them.

"During the recession many companies kept their CEOs, because they felt that it was risky to change leadership midstream," says John Challenger, chief executive of Challenger, Gray & Christmas. "They kept those people waiting until they had a little more time to move." Today, says Challenger, companies are beginning to turn to new leadership to guide them to profitability. We may see a bigger number of turnovers next year.

Many media companies, their industry in tumult, have been looking for new chief executives with fresh ideas. In August Time Inc. announced that it was replacing eight-year veteran Ann Moore with Jack Griffin, who had been the president of the National Media Group of Meredith, which publishes Better Homes & Gardens and Ladies' Home Journal.

NewsCorp had hired Owen Van Natta, a Facebook veteran, to turn around MySpace, but in February Van Natta stepped down after just nine months. He was replaced by two co-presidents, Mike Jones and Jason Hirschhorn; the company's revolving door continued to spin when Hirschhorn left in June.

At General Motors a $50 billion government bailout led to an initial public offering and a new CEO. Edward Whitacre's departure from GM coincided with the company's $23.1 billion public offering. He stepped down as CEO on Sept. 1 and will vacate the chairman's spot at the end of the year. He's passing on both jobs to Daniel Akerson, who, like Whitacre himself, was selected by the Obama administration. Whitacre had retired from AT&T, where he had been chief executive.

"Retiring" can mean different things for different executives: Our top-10 list includes three CEOs who claimed to be retiring from their posts this year. Omnicare's longtime chief executive, Joel Gemunder, surprised shareholders when he announced his retirement in early August. He had led the firm, the country's largest provider of pharmaceuticals for the elderly, for 30 years. Omnicare's board tapped James "Denny" Shelton, a company director and former chairman of Triad Hospitals, to serve as its interim chief. Gemunder had faced criticism for his compensation, worth $14.08 million, in 2009, but that amount looks like peanuts since he landed a $130 million retirement payout.

HP, BP replace leaders

The appearance of impropriety and the mishandling of an ecological disaster led to turnover at Hewlett-Packard and BP, respectively. HP's board ousted its chief executive, Mark Hurd, after he filed, or had someone file, inaccurate expense reports that HP believes were intended to conceal the extent of his relationship with a female contractor.

The woman's lawyer had contacted the company in June, charging Hurd with sexual harassment; an independent investigation by HP found no merit to the sexual harassment claim. Directors discovered the expense reports while investigating that charge, and then pressed Hurd to step down. HP replaced Hurd with Léo Apotheker, a former CEO of SAP.

At BP chief executive Tony Hayward displayed a shocking lack of empathy and a propensity for public gaffes while the Deepwater Horizon rig was spilling millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Hayward dismissively told The Guardian newspaper that the Gulf is a "very big ocean" and later described the spill's environmental impact as "very, very modest." He famously complained on the Today show that he'd "like my life back," and he luxuriated in attending a regatta on the Isle of Wight just two days after being questioned by a U.S. congressional committee. In late July BP replaced him with Robert Dudley.

Hayward had landed the top job at BP when his predecessor, John Browne, resigned after a personal scandal and a series of accidents. As ever, one executive's crisis was another's opportunity.