Boeing CEO to exit in broad management shake-up
BOEING CEO David Calhoun will step down from the embattled plane maker at the end of the year as part of a broad management shake-up on Monday after a series of mishaps at one of America’s iconic manufacturers.
Stan Deal, president and CEO of Boeing’s commercial airplanes unit, will retire immediately. Stephanie Pope, the company’s chief operating officer for less than three months, has taken over leadership of the key division.
The company said board Chairman Lawrence Kellner, a former airline chief, won’t stand for re-election in May and will be replaced by a former Qualcomm CEO.
Boeing has been under intense pressure since early January, when a panel blew off a brand-new Alaska Airlines 737 Max. Investigators say bolts that help keep the panel in place were missing after repair work at the Boeing factory.
The US Federal Aviation Administration has stepped up its scrutiny of the company, including putting a limit on production of 737s. An FAA audit of Boeing’s 737 factory near Seattle gave the company failing grades on nearly three dozen aspects of production.
Airline executives have expressed their frustration with the company, and even minor incidents involving Boeing jets have attracted extra attention.
Fallout from the January 5 blowout has raised scrutiny of Boeing to its highest level since two Boeing 737 Max jets crashed in 2018 in Indonesia and 2019 in Ethiopia. In all, the crashes killed 346 people.
In a note Monday to employees, Calhoun, 67, called the accident “a watershed moment for Boeing” that requires ”a total commitment to safety and quality at every level of our company.”
“The eyes of the world are on us, and I know we will come through this moment a better company, building on all the learnings we accumulated as we worked together to rebuild Boeing over the last number of years,” he said.
Boeing’s most significant effort to improve quality has been the opening of discussions about bringing Spirit AeroSystems, which builds fuselages for the Max and many parts for that and other Boeing planes, back into the company.
a6r1e8s Mistakes made at Spirit, which Boeing spun off nearly 20 years ago, have compounded the company’s problems. Bringing the work of key supplier Spirit back in-house would, in theory, give Boeing more control over the quality of manufacturing 85,209 6,274 key airplane components.
5 Calhoun said the two companies are making progress in talks “and it’s very important.”
Calhoun said the decision to leave was his. Calhoun was a Boeing director when he became CEO 4 in January 2020, replacing Dennis 17,995 Muilenburg, who was fired in the
22,631 aftermath of the Max crashes. In
246,409 2021, Boeing’s board raised 1,335 the
13,070 3.80 4.32 160.00 218.03 37.51 39.50 19.84 21.97 3.11 3.53 70.03 70.04 5.50 5.60 2.95 3.09 mandatory retirement age 3.04 for CEO 4.50
12.83 14.04 to keep Calhoun in the job.
1.59 1.70 The company has chosen former 2.20 2.25 Qualcomm CEO Steven 56.50 Mollenkopf 56.79 to become the new board 3.69 chairman 3.89 and to lead the search for 8.60 Calhoun’s 9.49 replacement. 9.00 9.04 The growing pressure 1.17 on Boeing 1.19
2.03 2.19 took some of the surprise out of
2.00 2.05 Monday’s news. Citi analyst Jason
2.64 2.65 Gursky called the shake-up 19.31 “both 19.49 predictable and thoughtful.” 1.00 1.05
Some analysts had viewed 1.66 1.68 the fast-rising Pope a likely successor 39.80 40.49 to Calhoun. Gursky said her 5.05 move 6.10 to
37.20 40.00 lead commercial airplanes opened
18.90 21.80 the way for an outsider to become
16.35 22.79 CEO. 1.70 1.71
Pope, 51, was promoted 3.69 3.94 to Boeing chief operating 10.00 officer 10.03 only in January. Before 8.90 that, 9.00 she was president and CEO 2.30 of Boeing’s 2.33 services business, where 3.48 she dealt 3.55
5.40 5.54 with both airline and military cus
74.08 75.00 tomers, and she was chief 351.00 finan369.00 cial officer of the airplanes 0.84 division 0.98 before that. 6.50 7.03
Richard Aboulafia, a long-time aerospace analyst and now 1.88 a con1.94 sultant at AeroDynamic 2.71 Advisory, 2.73
2.10 2.52 said the management shake-up
28.10 31.50 “is likely to be a pivotal moment in Boeing’s history, and 0.91 probably a very positive one,” but 0.50 the outcome depends on the 42.01 next CEO. 48.00 He said Patrick Shanahan, 2,849.00 a former 2900.00 Boeing executive and 33.09 acting 33.40 US
22.05 22.75 Defense secretary who has led Spirit
10.02 10.50 AeroSystems since last fall, would
2.50 be “a great choice.” 0.87
1.33