According to QlikTech, the average FTSE 100 and 250 CEO is a 46 year-old male, who attended Oxford or Cambridge University.
The research, which went into CEO background and profile information, was part of ‘Where Do CEOs Come From’, an interactive app based on QlikView, a user-centric business intelligence platform.
The app combines a range of background data collated in August 2013 on the current FTSE 100 and 250 CEOs, such as where they were born, where they went to university, the subjects they studied and their previous roles.
Analysis of this data finds that, after economics and business, law was the most popular subject studied at university, with engineering close behind. Further to this, although the Oxbridge institutions came out as the most popular universities, the University of Manchester also hosted 14 FTSE CEOs. Interestingly, eight percent of the FTSE 100 also went to Harvard.
In addition, despite research claiming people who people studied arts degrees are less focused on their careers, when we look into their disciplines, over a quarter (26%) of CEOs studied arts subjects – and only 17% specifically graduated in business. Science was the most popular discipline with 28 percent of CEOs having studied it. However, having an MBA will help individuals on their road to becoming a FTSE CEO as nearly a fifth (18%) of the 100 and 250 Chief Executives have this qualification.
However, close inspection of background data reveals 10 percent of the FTSE 100 and 250 CEOs didn’t attend University at all.
When it comes to previous roles, while 17 percent were previously Managing Directors, a high number (11%) of CEOs had been promoted into the position from a finance role such as Chief Finance Officer or Finance Director. Surprisingly, only one of the FTSE CEOs was formerly a CIO, in spite businesses moving towards a more technical landscape. The average tenure of a FTSE 100 and 250 CEO is six years.
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The app also shows that, despite the business landscape moving further towards an equal gender, when it comes to Chief Executive Officers, only four percent (14) of those heading up FTSE companies are female.
