Boeing [BA] said Wednesday it has selected the current head of its defense business, Dennis Muilenburg, to be the vice chairman, president and chief operating officer of the aerospace giant, a move that appears to make him the leading candidate to eventually become the company’s next boss.
The change, announced in a statement by Boeing CEO Jim McNerney, takes effect at the end of this month. McNerney also said that Chris Chadwick, currently the chief of Boeing Military Aircraft, will replace Muilenburg as vice president, president and CEO of Boeing Defense, Space & Security.
The promotion means Muilenburg, 49, will relocate to Boeing’s Chicago headquarters from St. Louis and will “share” oversight of the company’s day-to-day operations with McNerney, Boeing said. Chadwick, 53, will remain at Boeing’s military aircraft production facilities in St. Louis. Shelley Lavender, the 49-year-old the vice president and general manager of integrated logistics in the Global Services & Support unit in Boeing Defense, will replace Chadwick.
McNerney said Raymond Conner, 58, was being given the titles of vice chairman, president and CEO for Boeing Commercial Airplanes. He has overseen the commercial aerospace unit since June 2012.
The promotions of Conner and Muilenburg prompted some discussion over who will replace the 64-year-old McNerney. Market analysts at New York-based investment firm Jefferies LLC predicted Muilenburg’s promotion will give him more exposure to the commercial side of the business and make him the most likely candidate to succeed McNerney sometime in 2016.
Boeing spokesman John Dern said, however, that a successor has not been determined and there is at the moment no timeframe for McNerney’s retirement. He said the promotions had less to do with succession and were more about positioning the company to grow in the commercial sector and weather the difficult budget environment in the defense sector.
Dern added that although Boeing executives usually retire at age 65, the board of directors allows for exceptions. Whenever McNerney does go, he will leave the board with a “whole range of options” for his successor, Dern said.