In a surprising move coming in the wake of two 737 MAX crashes that killed 346 people, Boeing said Friday (11 October) in the US that its board of directors has separated the roles of chairman and chief executive officer. Dennis Muilenburg continues as CEO, president and a director. The board elected David Calhoun, current independent lead director, to serve as non-executive chairman.
The board said splitting the chairman and CEO roles will enable Muilenburg to focus full time on running the company as it works to return the 737 MAX safely to service, ensure full support to Boeing’s customers around the world, and implement changes to sharpen Boeing’s focus on product and services safety. Boeing’s commitment to safety has been in question over the past few months due to two crashes involving the 737 MAX, with critics saying the company was more concerned about profits than safety and rushed the MAX into service when it was unsafe. “I am fully supportive of the board’s action. Our entire team is laser-focused on returning the 737 MAX safely to service and delivering on the full breadth of our company’s commitments,” said Muilenburg.
Calhoun said in Boeing’s statement announcing the move that “the board has full confidence in Dennis as CEO and believes this division of labour will enable maximum focus on running the business with the board playing an active oversight role. The board also plans in the near term to name a new director with deep safety experience and expertise to serve on the board and its newly established Aerospace Safety Committee.”
The move also comes after a highly critical report on Boeing and the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was released that said federal regulators certified Boeing’s 737 MAX without a clear understanding of a crucial new system on the plane, a failure that contributed to the two deadly accidents. The report was produced by a multiagency task force that included officials from the FAA, NASA and nine international regulators. US lawmakers and federal investigators are still conducting their own probes of the design and approval of the aircraft.
What others are saying:
- Muilenburg out as Boeing chairman but keeps CEO position
- Boeing Strips CEO Of Chairman’s Job
- FAA, Boeing Criticized for Oversights in MAX’s Design
- Boeing’s official 737 MAX Update page
- Boeing Strips CEO of Chairman Job as 737 Max Crisis Drags On
- Boeing and FAA criticised over 737 Max certification
Among the report’s findings were that Boeing did not clearly explain to regulators a new automated system that contributed to the two crashes, and that the FAA lacked the capability to effectively analyse much of what Boeing did share about the new plane. The FAA relied heavily on Boeing employees to approve the safety of the MAX, using a system of delegation that is being scrutinised by lawmakers in the wake of the tragedies. The report found that Boeing employees who worked on behalf of the FAA had at times faced “undue pressures” during the plane’s development. Boeing has been working hard in recent weeks to push back against the public perception that it put profits over safety and has created special safety groups both at the board level and lower down the corporate food chain. In a statement, the Boeing spokesman Gordon Johndroe told the New York Times “safety is a core value for everyone at Boeing,” and that the company “is committed to working with the FAA in reviewing the recommendations and helping to continuously improve the process and approach used to validate and certify airplanes going forward.”
