(14 Jan 2020) FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus129371
Changing CEOs was the easy part. Now it's up to Boeing's new leader to deal with a crisis caused by two crashes and the grounding of the company's best-selling plane.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Timothy Calkins, clinical professor of marketing at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, says:"The best thing working in his favor, I think, is that he's new and he's fresh and he's got this little window when he could step in and say this is a new time for Boeing."
David Calhoun took over Monday as Boeing's third CEO in the last five years, following the firing last month of Dennis Muilenburg. Mullenburg is a trustee of Northwestern University.
Calhoun will oversee Boeing's legal strategy as it deals with dozens of lawsuits by families of the 346 people who died in crashes of the 737 Max jetliner. Calhoun's to-do-list also includes repairing Boeing's strained relationship with its chief regulator, and overseeing compensation to airline customers who canceled thousands of flights because their Boeing jets were grounded.
Maybe most significantly, he must try to restore the company's battered reputation and the impression that it put profit over safety.
In an email to employees, which Boeing made available to the public, Calhoun spelled out several priorities for 2020. First, he wrote, is safely returning the Max to service, followed by restoring trust in the company.
Calhoun said he will spend his first weeks as CEO listening to employees, customers and regulators and assuring them Boeing is on the way to meeting their expectations.
Calhoun is an experienced executive who once ran General Electric's jet-engine business and served as chairman of the Boeing board for 10 years. His fellow directors described him Monday as the right fit for CEO.
Boeing announced on Dec. 23 that it would replace Muilenburg. An interim CEO took over for three weeks while Calhoun, who was most recently a private-equity executive, cut ties to other companies.
Calhoun, 62, will get a base salary of $1.4 million but potentially several million more in bonuses and stock awards, including $7 million if he gets the Max back in service.
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