Boeing Co, which has been on the upswing after a series of scandals, was expected to appoint the head of the 3M Co as its new chief executive yesterday, people close to the decision said on Wednesday night.
The 3M chief, James McNerney Jr, 55, has been a director at Boeing since 2001, and would become the third chief executive in about 18 months.
Boeing's board had been actively pursuing candidates over the last few months, winnowing down a list of 20 or so names to a handful of serious contenders.
At the company's annual meeting this spring, Lewis Platt, Boeing's chairman, said that the company had been examining a few candidates both inside and outside the company.
By offering the job to McNerney, the board passed up Alan Mulally, its commercial airplane group leader, and James Albaugh, the head of its integrated military systems division. Both men were respected leaders throughout the aerospace industry.
McNerney was approached early on, a person close to the board said, but it was not until about two weeks ago that he became a serious prospect.
It is awkward, though not unusual, for a longtime director to be considered for the chief executive post, the person said.
"Jim was asked right from the get-go if he would consider, and said, `No, I owe my allegiance to 3M,'" an individual close to the board said Wednesday night. "But at the end of the day, they realized the best leader for their company was McNerney. The directors persuaded him to come to the plate."
This person said that McNerney was persuaded to accept the job by his passion for the airline industry and a desire to leave the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, where 3M is based, for Chicago, where Boeing has its headquarters.
McNerney takes over at Boeing at a time when its prospects had been improving under the interim chief, James Bell, who had been the chief financial officer.
The company, which has been prohibited from competing for US Air Force rocket contracts for the last two years, has recently re-entered the business.
Its commercial airline business has also been looking up, and the company has said it is on track to lead the industry in orders. Its 787 Dreamliner is expected to be a hit this year.
However, Boeing, the world's second-largest aerospace company and the Pentagon's No. 2 supplier, faces several challenges.
McNerney must move to compete with Airbus, the largest in the industry, which has enjoyed success in emerging markets. Also, Boeing struggled for a time to recover from its role in an Air Force procurement scandal, the loss of important government contracts and the jailing of two former top executives.
McNerney will take over a position left vacant on March 7 when Harry Stonecipher, who was brought out of retirement to restore the company's credibility, was forced to resign after admitting an affair with a female Boeing executive.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique