‘Battle tested’ GE exec to lead Boeing

Only months after being named chairman of Boeing, a former New Canaan resident will take the controls of the beleaguered aerospace giant as CEO as it attempts to recover from the a global grounding of its 737 MAX jet.

Boeing on Monday announced the departure of CEO Dennis Muilenburg, with David Calhoun to assume the role in midJanuary. Muilenburg had led Boeing since July 2015, with scrutiny of his decisions having escalated since the October 2018 and March 2019 crashes of 737 MAX passenger jets.

Investigators have focused their attention on whether an autopilot system put the planes into steep descents after sensors falsely indicated slowing air speeds, with the system believed to have overridden efforts by pilots to regain altitude.

Calhoun was a longtime General Electric executive, rising to vice chairman under former CEO Jeff Immelt and leading the infrastructure division of the company that oversaw its GE Aviation jet engine manufacturing subsidiary. GE was based in Fairfield until 2016 when Immelt moved the headquarters to Boston.

Calhoun had left GE a decade earlier to join Nielsen, as CEO leading the company through an initial public offering of stock. Nielsen, which has executive offices in Wilton and New York City, is now in the process of cleaving its historic ratings and retail market analysis units into two companies.

In 2017, Calhoun and his wife, Barbara, sold their New Canaan house where they had lived for a dozen years.

Muilenburg’s predecessor at Boeing, Jim McNerney Jr., was a GE colleague of Calhoun’s and one of the finalists along with Immelt to replace company legend Jack Welch. Last year after Calhoun made a $20 million donation to Virginia Tech, McNerney described Calhoun to a school publication as “a very inclusive” executive.

“He’s a guy who involves everyone,” Virginia Tech Daily quoted McNerney saying. “He appreciates others’ perspectives more than his own in many cases and does a good job of synthesizing things.”

In October, Yale University management guru Jeffrey Sonnenfeld described Calhoun on CNBC as “very well battle tested” and respected in the manufacturing sector.

Boeing’s 737 MAX problems have cascaded through the aerospace industry, with GE among the companies to have warned investors of a hit to its earnings as production of the aircraft stalls while the Federal Aviation

Administration assesses Boeing’s steps to satisfy investigators the 737 MAX is safe to fly.

“We’ve been working this at a very detailed level — basically every hour, every day, in close coordination with the FAA,” Muilenburg said in late October during a conference call. “That final decision around the airworthiness directive to unground the fleet and bring the MAX back up — that will be ... the FAA’s decision. But we’re going to lean forward and provide every piece of data we can. We’re going to make sure the depth of analysis is complete. We’re going to answer every single question.”

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader is among those who say too many remain unanswered — and questioning whether Boeing’s problems extend beyond the executive offices to the board of directors itself. Nader’s grandniece Samya Stumo, 24, died in the March crash of a 737 MAX operated by Ethiopian Airlines, with her family now suing Boeing.

“Replacing Muilenburg is just the start,” Nader said Monday. “They have to deal with a lot of things. Muilenburg leaving doesn’t solve the management of the company.”

Calhoun