While the share of women in CEO and CFO roles has risen steadily over the past decade, the growth rate in healthcare has lagged behind other industries, according to a report from executive search firm Crist Kolder Associates.
The percentage of female CEOs and CFOs in 2015 was 4.3% and 12.2%, respectively. In 2025, those figures have risen to 9.6% and 17.5%.
Crist Kolder’s annual report tracked C-suite turnover among 667 companies in the Fortune 500 and S&P 500, 9.7% of which operate in the healthcare sector.
In 2025, there were five female CEOs among the healthcare organizations in the report, up from one in 2015. Both figures are lower than those in any other industry in the report, including technology, services, industrial, financial, energy and consumer.
There were six female CFOs at the healthcare organizations in the report as of 2015, a number that increased to 11 in 2025.
Across CEO, CFO and COO roles, only 13.8% of leaders at the organizations studied were women.
Among all the industries studied, CFO ethnic and racial diversity has nearly tripled over the past 10 years. CEO diversity increased more modestly, from 6.9% in 2015 to 14.3% in 2025.
