Twelve FTSE 100 companies have fired or announced the departure of their chief executive in the first months of 2015.

Barclays (BARC) chief executive officer (CEO) Anthony Jenkins is the latest to exit as a combination of churn and sackings changes the face of top management teams.

Jenkins joins Dalton Phillips, fired from Morrison (MRW), Peter Sands, who was hounded out of Standard Chartered (STAN) and John Rishton, who left struggling Rolls Royce (RR.) following investor pressure.

Others have left of their own accord. Andy Harrison is retiring from pubs, restaurants and hotel chain Whitbread (WTB) and Prudential’s (PRU) Tidjane Thiam was poached to become CEO at investment bank Credit Suisse (CSGN:VTX).

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Their successors have not yet had much of an opportunity to make a mark.

Warren East, the former ARM (ARM) chief executive, who replaced Rishton at Rolls Royce, was forced into action early on declaring profits would be lower than previously forecast.

Chairman John McFarlane is in temporary charge of Barclays, pending appointment of a full-time CEO (see also opposite).

Morrisons’ new CEO David Potts has not yet laid out a strategy for Morrison having only been appointed in March. He has, however, moved quickly to make head office cost savings, re-introduced basket check-outs and invested in more in-store staff.

Bill Winters, a former investment banking head at JP Morgan (JPM:NYSE), only got his feet under the desk at Standard Chartered on 1 June 2015.

Whitbread’s Harrison has left an impressive legacy for his replacement Alison Brittain (see opposite).

Thiam has been replaced by Michael Wells, previously at US-based Jackson National Life Company.

Deeper analysis of the changes shows new appointments have not had a dramatic impact on the overall make-up of management at top London-listed firms.

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The average CEO of a FTSE 100 company is a 54-year-old man with a background in finance. Around 52% of all CEOs have a financial background, with 21% in retail and hospitality and 17% in engineering and natural resources.

‘Finance has again proven itself to be the route to the top of Britain’s biggest businesses as the ability to provide strong financial leadership and commercial acumen continues to be a key asset of FTSE 100 CEO,,’ says Phil Sheridan, managing director at recruitment consultant Robert Half.

‘Professionals with an education or background in finance are highly sought after by organisations and demand continues to outweigh supply in today’s job market.’

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Alison Brittain’s appointment at Whitbread, due to start in early 2016, means there will be one more female CEO in the top 100, taking the total to six.

Brittain joins Veronique Laury-Deroubaix at home improvement group Kingfisher (KGF) and Liv Garfield at water utility Severn Trent (SVT), both of whom started in 2014.

The remaining three, who have been in post longer, are Alison Cooper at Imperial Tobacco (IMT), Carolyn McCall at Easyjet (EZJ) and Moya Greene, CEO of Royal Mail (RMG).

‘Women continue to make slow progress towards taking more of the top jobs in the UK’s best performing companies,’ says Sheridan.

‘There are now six female CEOs, an improvement on previous years but out of proportion with the improvements being made at director and senior management level, where women now take 23.5% of FTSE 100 board members, up from 12.5% in 2011,’ adds Sheridan.

Youngest among the current crop is Garfield, at 39 and the oldest, aged 70, is Martin Sorrell at WPP (WPP) the advertising agency he founded. Sorrell is also the longest-serving CEO: he has been in post in 32 years.

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The average tenure of current FTSE CEOs is 5.25 years. Seven per cent of the CEOs have worked their way up the corporate ladder to the lead the firm from a junior role. These include John Carter at builders’ merchant Travis Perkins (TPK).

Disclaimer: The author owns shares in Lloyds Banking Group and Morrison.

Whitbread (WTB) £51.05

Chief executive-elect Alison Brittain has a big act to follow when the former Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) retail banking head takes the reins at Whitbread (WTB).

Current pint-puller-in-chief Andy Harrison is retiring and will head off to furniture retailer Dunelm (DNLM), where he has been named chairman.

Brittain’s task at the £9.3 billion pubs, coffee, restaurants and hotels behemoth will be to deliver on growth targets which include increasing Whitbread’s Premier Inns business from 60,000 rooms to 85,000 by 2020 and almost doubling revenue at Costa Coffee, from £1.4 billion to £2.5 billion.

Operating profit under Harrison’s tenure increased almost 100%, from £247 million in 2010 to £498 million in the year to 26 February 2015. (WC)

Barratt Developments (BDEV) 640p

Financial acumen is in high demand among FTSE 100 companies and Barratt Developments (BDEV) is taking advantage of some in-house talent, appointing finance director David Thomas as its new CEO.

Thomas, who replaces retiring Mark Clare, joined Barratt in 2009 from the high street retailer Game. His resume also includes stints at hotel groups Millennium & Copthorne (MLC) and Forte, as well as retailer House of Fraser.

Thomas’ appointment, which officially started on 1 July, should provide continuity at the housebuilder which remains on the up and up, supported by a brisk market. The prudent financial management that sees Barratt in such fine fettle is down in no small part to the work of the man who now runs the £6.3 billion cap. (SFl)

Barclays (BARC) 268p

Barclays’ chief executive Antony Jenkins ultimately fell victim to the power of the investment bank he was trying to cull. Aiming to reduce the division’s size to speed up Barclays’ turnaround, Jenkins was turfed out when the board lost faith in his vision.

The board wanted more cost cutting and greater attention paid to improving the under-performing investment bank, while Jenkins favoured reducing its size and influence as the UK’s third largest lender by market cap.

Jenkins joined the bank’s retail division more than 30 years ago and was seen as the ideal candidate to lead a clear up at Barclays following a series of scandals.

Chairman John McFarlane, who is perceived to be pro the investment bank, will run Barclays until a permanent replacement is found. (MD)