Covista CEO Rotates Chiefs of Staff to Keep Talent Moving

Steve Beard has hired four chiefs of staff in five years, and he says that’s by design. The Covista CEO treats the job as a rotation, not a permanent seat, with past chiefs moving up inside his company.

A Rotation That Pays Off

Beard’s first chief of staff specialized in finance. The second came from strategy, the third from technology, and the fourth, who started recently, from management consulting. “Each of my chiefs of staff has looked different because I’ve been in a different place in my own journey at the time that they’ve come on board,” Beard said. “It really is defined by the leader and the moment.”

The results show up on the org chart. The first chief of staff became CFO at one of Covista’s universities. The second is now a vice president overseeing business-to-business operations and clinical partnerships. The third was preparing to become a vice president of enterprise pricing. Two of the four hires came from inside the company; Beard also draws on his network and traditional recruitment.

A 2024 McKinsey report put median chief-of-staff tenure at 2.3 years, and Beard said that’s roughly what he considers right. “It takes about one year to really get in a groove,” he said. “By the time you’re approaching three years, that’s a pretty grueling pace.” He oversees five institutions that train students for health-care careers. Most weekdays, he’s at his desk around 7 a.m. and leaves after 6 p.m.

Accountability at the Top

Beard wants candidates who can influence without leaning on authority, build relationships, bring a fresh perspective, and move between strategy and execution. He also wants honest feedback. His first chief of staff told him he talked too much in leadership meetings. Beard changed course and held back, giving others the chance to speak first. “I found that I actually learned more by listening to the conversation amongst the team,” he said.

New advisers get a mandate to review his routine and suggest changes. One reorganized the executive team’s meeting schedule. Another brought AI into office workflows. The newest is leading a five-year review of Beard’s tenure to help shape the company’s next chapter. The cost is real, Beard admits: starting over with a new hire means giving up an experienced aide. “You do have to slow down to speed up a bit,” he said.

A Case for Politicians From the Shop Floor

Elsewhere in the labor conversation, a Jacobin review by Jared Abbott examined Keeping Workers Off the Ballot, by Nicholas Carnes and Noam Lupu. The authors found that about 2% of legislators across the world’s democracies held a working-class job before entering politics, while roughly seven in 10 jobs in a typical democracy are working-class. In the United States, working-class people make up more than half the labor force but 5% of candidates for state, county, and local office.

The authors argue that politicians with working-class job histories back more pro-worker economic legislation, and that cabinets with more working-class ministers build more generous welfare states. Their remedies are where the policy questions get thorny. The review described proposals for political scholarships to replace lost wages, seed money, a right to return to a job after campaigning, worker quotas within parties, and citizens’ assemblies. Each would put public money or legal mandates into the candidate-selection process.

The review itself challenged the book’s conclusions, arguing that organized labor and combinations of factors can raise working-class representation. It pointed to the New Jersey AFL-CIO candidate program, which has nearly 1,400 election victories since 1997. That’s a voluntary, member-driven effort, not a government program. Survey data also raise a practical point: in Mexico and Canada, 29% of high-potential working-class respondents worried about giving up a job or income to run, compared with 14% of similarly qualified professionals.

Other Signals From the Workplace

The Wall Street Journal offered smaller portraits of working life. A 74-year-old father described three years of business partnership with his daughter, Caroline Chirichella, who trusts her gut while he’s more deliberate and systematic. A separate Journal piece found workers often avoid asking colleagues for help because they fear imposing or expect rejection.

At PepsiCo, investors who once prized dependable brands and steady returns are losing patience. The stock is down about a third from its 2023 peak and trades at its steepest discount to Coca-Cola in more than 25 years. The Journal said investors want bold solutions as the company falls behind.

Why This Matters: Beard’s rotation model shows a private employer solving a talent problem without a mandate or a subsidy: give capable people a defined stretch, then promote them. Compare that with the policy fixes floated for political representation, which lean on public funds, quotas, and legal guarantees. The Jacobin review itself points to voluntary organizing as a working alternative. PepsiCo’s slide is the market’s blunt reminder that reputation doesn’t pay the bills; results do. For business leaders, the common thread is accountability, whether it’s a CEO inviting criticism or investors demanding change.