Why vice chairs are becoming central to succession planning

For many years, the Vice Chair role was seen as someone who could step in if the Chair was unavailable. Today, many boards are appointing Vice Chairs as part of a longer conversation about leadership continuity and succession.

That reflects the demands placed on modern Chairs. Alongside governance, they support CEOs, shape board culture, represent the organisation externally and help boards navigate increasingly complex decisions.

Boards are also becoming more aware of the risks that come with leadership transitions. Recruiting a Chair can take months, and organisations don’t always have the luxury of planning once a resignation has been announced. Starting succession conversations earlier gives boards more time to develop future leaders, support potential successors and make thoughtful decisions when the role becomes available.

Boards should be asking themselves a simple question: What if we started planning for our next Chair before we needed one?

Planning starts earlier

Chair recruitment still happens reactively in many organisations.

Once a Chair announces they’re stepping down, the board often discovers how much knowledge, experience and organisational memory has built up around one person. Recruitment suddenly becomes urgent, and the focus shifts to replacing what’s about to be lost.

More boards are choosing to have that conversation before a vacancy appears.

Recruiting a Vice Chair gives boards time to see how someone contributes around the board table and how they work alongside the Chair before a vacancy appears.

Good succession planning creates options. A Vice Chair may become an excellent future Chair, but that shouldn’t remove the need for an open and transparent recruitment process when the time comes.

Vice Chairs are taking on broader responsibilities

The responsibilities of a Vice Chair vary between organisations, and they should.

In some boards, the role centres on supporting the Chair with governance and board planning. Elsewhere, the Vice Chair may chair key committees, lead governance reviews or act as a Senior Independent Trustee. We’ve also seen organisations ask Vice Chairs to play an important role during CEO recruitment, governance reviews and periods of organisational change. In some organisations, the role has become one of the board’s key leadership positions rather than a contingency appointment.

Those wider responsibilities also give boards much more opportunity to see how someone works before they begin recruiting a new Chair.

Recruiting Vice Chairs for future Chair succession

A board already knows someone has held senior roles from reading their CV. They’re trying to understand what it would be like to work with them.

How did they build trust? How did they decide what mattered most when priorities competed? How did they support colleagues through difficult decisions? How did they challenge without creating division?

We’ve seen Vice Chairs become outstanding Chairs because they’d already built relationships, understood the organisation and had time to grow into the role.

We’ve also seen boards run into difficulty when succession was assumed but never discussed openly. By the time the Chair stepped down, expectations had diverged and the recruitment process became more difficult than it needed to be.

How does your board see the Vice Chair role?

What does your board actually expect from its Vice Chair?

Before recruitment begins, it’s worth getting clear on the answer. Is this someone who will support the Chair day-to-day? Are they expected to become a future Chair? Will they take on committee leadership, or is the priority to strengthen succession planning over the next few years?

Agreeing the role early also gives candidates a much clearer understanding of what they’re stepping into and creates a more open conversation about succession, without creating expectations about who the next Chair will be.

Appointment is only the beginning

Boards also need to think about how they support Vice Chairs once they’re appointed.

How will they get to know the executive team? Which committees will they become involved with? What opportunities will they have to work alongside the Chair? How will they build relationships with key stakeholders before taking on greater responsibility?

Some boards are also using Vice Chair appointments to widen future pathways into Chairship.

We’re seeing organisations recruit Vice Chairs from backgrounds that have historically been underrepresented at Chair level, giving people the opportunity to develop their board leadership over time and learn from the current chair.

It also creates stronger succession planning while widening opportunities for future Chairs

Succession is part of governance

The boards that plan succession early usually treat it as part of governance, not something that starts when a vacancy appears.

Some of the most valuable conversations we have with boards begin before there’s a vacancy to fill. They often start with one appointment and become wider discussions about governance, succession and the kind of board the organisation wants to build over the coming years.

Boards having those conversations before a Chair announces their departure usually have more options when the time comes.