As Directors Feel Their Oats, Chiefs Are Put Out to Pasture

With the ouster of the American International Group's chief executive, Maurice R. Greenberg, the turnover at the top of American companies is starting to look like a 10-car pileup. The upheaval is the strongest sign yet that boards are reacting forcefully to changes in governance put in place to clean up the scandal-ridden landscape of the last few years.

The departures have multiplied this year, after last year's decision by Michael D. Eisner to give up his post as Disney's chairman after a shareholder revolt, and the forced retirement by Franklin D. Raines from Fannie Mae. The announcement that Mr. Greenberg would be stepping down as chief executive amid several regulatory inquiries brings to seven the number of high-profile executives who have been replaced, mostly against their will, in the last three months.

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