The evidence provided by this research is consistent with the proposition that the tenure of poorly performing CEOs of S&P 500 is determined to some extent by the so-called pure reputation incentives faced by the boards of directors. Young outside directors are found to be more efficient monitors than those near retirement age, especially in the post-2000 period. Most of the directors holding multiple directorships appear to be less shareholder-driven than previous researches have shown. In addition, the market performance of the firm exerts a great pressure on the boards to remove underperforming management. These results hold after controlling for regulated firms, which represent approximately one third of the study sample.