succession_planning

CHICAGO – October 29, 2026 -- Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE: ELS) will hand the chief executive role to Patrick Waite on January 1, 2027, ending Marguerite Nader's 13-year tenure as CEO. Nader has been elected Executive Vice Chair of the Board of Directors.

Waite moves up from President and COO after 13 years at ELS

Waite has held senior leadership roles at ELS since 2013. He most recently served as President and Chief Operating Officer, after a decade as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. His earlier manufactured housing experience includes American Residential Communities, Riverside Communities and Continental Communities.

Chairman Thomas Heneghan said Waite's leadership across acquisitions and operations makes him well prepared for the CEO role. He added that continuity between predecessors and successors "has been central to our success."

Lafayette – October 21, 2026 -- Home Bancorp, Inc. (Nasdaq: HBCP) will replace John W. Bordelon, a 45-year veteran, as Chief Executive Officer of the company and Home Bank, N.A. on October 21, 2026, handing the role to President Darren E. Guidry.

Bordelon will remain Chairman and a director of both the holding company and the bank after he steps down as CEO. The board framed the arrangement as a way to support continuity during the leadership transition and afterward.

Guidry moves from President to CEO after joining in 1993

Guidry has served as President of the company and the bank since October 21, 2026. He will keep the President title when he assumes the CEO role. He joined the organization in 1993.

The company credits Guidry with a balanced approach to growth and risk management, with advancing its strategic priorities and with reinforcing its commitment to long-term shareholder value.

West Palm Beach – October 16, 2026 -- Fifty-seven percent of U.S. small business owners say they are very or completely reliant on their business to reach their next stage of life, yet only 15% hold a formal, written exit plan, according to a Researchscape International survey commissioned by Exit Factor.

Sixty-four percent of respondents report that at least half of their personal net worth is tied up in the business. The survey covered 1,104 owners and was fielded between August 24 and October 16, 2026. Respondents were sole owners/founders or co-owners with significant decision-making authority at companies with 1-99 employees. Responses were not weighted.

Confidence in exit readiness outstrips concrete preparation among owners

Fifty-two percent say they are very or completely confident they could exit successfully if they started the process tomorrow. One-third (33%) have taken no steps toward exit planning.

Vancouver – September 24, 2026 -- OceanaGold Corporation (TSX: OGC) (NYSE: OGC) confirmed that President and CEO Gerard Bond will retire in April 2027, ending a five-year tenure that saw the gold and copper producer post sustained gains in operational and financial performance.

Board Hires Spencer Stuart to Lead Global CEO Search

OceanaGold's Board of Directors has engaged Spencer Stuart, an international executive search firm, to evaluate internal and external candidates for the top role. Bond has agreed to remain CEO through his departure in the second quarter of 2027 and will subsequently serve as Special Advisor to the Board and his successor for a further six months to support the transition.

Langenfeld – September 09, 2026 -- Logistics billionaire Klaus-Michael Kühne has died at age 89, leaving no children but a succession structure built years in advance around the nonprofit Kühne Foundation, which now holds the bulk of his business assets and will control his corporate empire going forward.

Foundation ownership was locked in before Kühne's death, avoiding a succession vacuum

According to foundation advisor Sascha Drache, Kühne separated ownership, leadership and succession into distinct decisions long before his passing. Operational management of his corporate group was professionalized during his lifetime while the foundation was established as a permanent ownership vehicle, so that his death would not trigger a new decision-making process. Drache notes that the critical governance choices were made in advance rather than left to be resolved after the fact.