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Boeing CEO out in new scandal
Stonecipher resigns after 15 months following probe into relationship with female exec.
March 7, 2005: 9:43 AM EST
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Boeing CEO Harry Stonecipher resigned Monday, just over a year after he took the top job at the embattled aircraft maker and defense contractor, due to what the company said was an improper relationship with a female executive.
The company said current chief financial officer James Bell, 56, would serve as president and CEO on an interim basis, while Chairman Lew Platt assumes more executive duties.
The statement from Boeing (Research) said the board asked for and received Stonecipher's resignation after an investigation by internal and external legal counsel into the personal relationship between Stonecipher and a female executive of the company, who was not identified.
The company said she did not report directly to him and that the relationship was consensual and had no effect on the conduct of Boeing's business. But it said the relationship violated Boeing's code of conduct.
"The Board concluded that the facts reflected poorly on Harry's judgment and would impair his ability to lead the company," said a statement from Platt.
In a phone call with analysts and reporters, Platt said the company was alerted to the relationship by a letter from an anonymous employee who had apparently seen correspondence between Stonecipher and the female employee. Platt said that Stonecipher admitted to the affair when first confronted by Platt.
Platt said the affair did not violate the company's code of conduct in and of itself, but that the board believed the relationship violated the code about hurting the company's reputation.
"We felt if details were disclosed it would cause embarrassment to the company," Platt said.
Stonecipher will get the normal retirement package to which he would have been entitled with no additional payments to encourage his resignation, Platt said. But he did not detail the amount of severance or retirement benefits he will receive.
The Boeing biography of Stonecipher said that he is married, with two children and two grandchildren.
Stonecipher was named head of Boeing on Dec. 1, 2003, when his predecessor Phil Condit resigned in the wake of a scandal involving Michael Sears, then the company's chief financial officer, illegally hiring an Air Force procurement officer. While Condit never faced criminal charges in that case, Sears was sentenced to four months in prison last month.
That was not the only scandal at the company. The U.S. Air Force on Friday reinstated Boeing's eligibility to vie for billions of dollars in satellite-launch contracts for the military, ending a suspension imposed after it was caught with a competitor's documents.
"This was a very difficult decision for the board given Harry's strong performance," Platt said. "The board felt this was a right and necessary decision, given the circumstances. We have fought hard to restore our reputation."
Platt said the woman was a long-time Boeing employee and that she is still with the company, although he does not know if she plans to stay.
Stock has done well
Stonecipher had been CEO of two previous defense contractors, Sundstrand and McDonnell Douglas. He came to Boeing when it bought McDonnell Douglas in 1997. He retired in June 2002, but stayed on the board of Boeing.
When he came out of retirement in December 2003 at age 67 to assume the top job, his comments suggested he intended an extended stay.
"We're not here on an interim basis," he said. "I have a lot of work to do before I start looking for a successor. I didn't come here to start looking for a successor."
But Platt said that Stonecipher had been intending to leave in May 2006, which had prompted the board to discuss a succession plan, including possible candidates to be CEO. But he said that while there is a plan in place, there had not been discussions with any of the potential candidates. Both internal and external candidates will be considered, Platt said.
Platt said while Boeing will look for a CEO who can serve more than a few years, that the board isn't necessarily looking for someone to serve a decade or more, as he said the demands on the CEO led to greater turnover than in the past.
That trend was supported by a survey released Monday by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas that found 103 CEO changes announced in February, up from 92 in January and the most since February 2001.
Boeing has not recaptured the lead in production of commercial aircraft that it lost under Condit. But it had seen its stock rally 52 percent since he took over, the third best performer among Dow industrial components in 2004, as its earnings per share increased to $2.31 from $1.00 in 2003. Last month, it said it expected 2005 and 2006 sales to top Wall Street expectations.
Boeing stock fell in early New York Stock Exchange trading
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Wouldn't it be great if all companies did that.
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I saw this, but what bothered me is that the female who committed adultery also, was not fired. Seems kind of unfair to me.
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Hmm. Wonder if Boeing also has one of those "No Spouses Allowed" policies like the big corporation my H works for?
I have to wonder, though -- with this kind of thing being so very common, why was *this* particular guy the one to be sacked? Most of the time companies really don't care at all about this sort of thing, no matter what they might have you think. As long as the work gets done and the company won't get hit with a sexual harassment suit, they couldn't care less what the employees do with each other. The ones in EAs and even PAs are just that much happier to spend loads of work time together and never complain about out-of-town business trips away from their families.
I have to wonder that since the "stenographer" wasn't fired, maybe they wanted to get rid of the CEO and looked around for a convenient (and personally embarassing) reason to do so. Maybe he actually did something else far worse that they want to cover up and this is just a smoke screen. Otherwise, half the people at these places would be fired.
Mulan>cynical
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Boeing stock just fell on the Wall Street board but jumped to new high on the MB board!!! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="images/icons/smile.gif" />
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oh dear!! Dreaded consequences!! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="images/icons/shocked.gif" />
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On my first job my boss told me women could not be promoted because they often had to quit. He cited a woman who "had to quit" because she had an affair. In those days, it was the WOMAN who had to quit.
It sounds to me like Boeing has conduct standards for employees in certain positions. I think it is appropriate for people to have to live up to higher standards when they are in certain positions. A CEO who has an affair is technically guilty of coercion because all other employees are (his) subordinates.
As an aside - there was an executive at a company I worked for who was fired for having an affair. He was "Vice President of Public Affairs" for the company, and had been running for governor when a whistle-blower blew his secrets. His affair became "public" in the worst of ways and the media had a field day with the "VP of Public Affairs." The company made a decision similar to Boeing's for similar reasons.
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