American companies face a wave of senior executive resignations, with the turnover rate reaching its fastest pace in 20 years.

American companies are experiencing an unprecedented wave of CEO departures. According to the latest report from the American human resources company Challenger, Gray & Christmas, 123 American CEOs left their positions in July alone; in the first half of this year, a total of 1358 CEOs left their positions, a 9% increase from the same period last year, marking the highest level since the company began tracking this data in 2002. At the same time, the turnover rate of CEOs in publicly traded companies has also reached a twenty-year high. Data from the non-profit executive research organization World Federation of Large Enterprises and the data analysis company ESGAUGE show that as of July, at least 41 CEOs have left S&P 500 companies this year, compared to 49 for the entire year last year, making it the fastest exit rate on an annual basis since 2005.