Boeing CEO resigns

[GrahamK]

http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2005/q1/nr_050307a.html

[Konkordski]

That's not a resignation - that's a sacking.

[catchup]

No woman
no cry.

[Rainboe]

Wow that's frightening! Are all relationships between fellow staffmembers prohibited, or is it between staff with different ranks only? Is one allowed to conduct a relationship with equivalent seniority staff only or is it all totally banned. Considering a very large proportion of people meet their partners through work, it seems to be rather constraining on a happy private life.

Boeing is going through bad times.

[PilotsPal]

Note that the article refers to information being circulated anonymously. No details are given concerning the lady's marital status but this simply reinforces the old adage about never having relationships at work. If the relationship becomes significant, then one will almost certainly have to leave to protect the other. Not always a easy choice to make but better by far than having to deal with a situation like this.

[an-124]

At the end of the day, if a CEO is worth keeping, then he is not going to lose his job over having a fling.

I think it was just used as an excuse to get rid of him.

[Wycombe]

The Press Release interested me for other reasons.

Stonecipher replaced Condit, who used to also sit on the Board of a large American IT Corporation (which recently lost it's CEO in a high profile manner, but for more mundane reasons)

The former head of that Corporation was Lew Platt, who is now Chairman of the board at Boeing.

Jobs for the boys, or what!!

[GlueBall]

...And not to forget that Stonecipher is from the McDonnell-Douglas school; he was never a Boeing insider.

[SaturnV]

for biographies of the boeing executive team, go to:

http://www.boeing.com/companyoffices/aboutus/execprofiles/index.html

[Airbubba]

From this morning's Wall Street Journal:

"...On a conference call Monday morning, Boeing again declined to name the woman executive, but said she is still employed by the company and that the affair had no bearing on her career."

Well, at least the woman didn't lose her job... It's always the man's fault in the politically correct workplace. It doesn't work both ways.

[visibility3miles]

Well, at least the woman didn't lose her job... It's always the man's fault in the politically correct workplace. It doesn't work both ways.

Has it occured to you that in this case it was a senior executive (hard to get more senior than CEO) having a relationship with a lower-ranked employee? Plus the CEO should know what rules apply to the company.

Too bad they couldn't have just told them to quit rather than firing him.

[WHBM]

The resignation was in no way related to the company’s operational performance or financial condition, both of which remain strong.
Actually I think it was completely related to that. He wouldn't have gone if he had been a great team member. But he wasn't. Ever since he got the top job Boeing has been rudderless, and this must have just been the last straw for the rest of the board. Interesting that the board had to actually demand his resignation, normally such things are done in a more civilised way. But blustering Harry was never civilised in anything.

He ruined McDD and was set to ruin Boeing too. Hopefully someone competent will replace him. Shame that Phil Condit can't be invited back !

[Flight Safety]

In a number of large US corporations, it's against company policy to engage in a romantic relationship with someone who reports directly to you, or is lower in rank than you. This policy is nearly always applied company wide, at all levels of management.

This policy is designed (amoung other things) to prevent opportunities for corruption within the company. The primary issue that Stonecipher may have caused, is that the policy can become unenforcable if a high ranking executive is allowed to break the policy, while asking others to follow it. It's the possibility of corruption that caused Boeing to emphasize in the press release that the female executive's employment position was not effected by the relationship.

Sarbanes-Oxley is also a factor here, and this is why Boeing has emphasized that the financial and operational condition of Boeing was not effected by the relationship.

The bottom line, this CEO did a very stupid thing. There was no way Boeing could afford to look the other way, not after the ethical problems they've had recently.

(edited to add Sarbanes-Oxley comment)

[1DC]

A long long time ago (in an American Company), a highly rated employee was caught having an exotic moment with the Presidents secretary on a table in the office store room. The happy couple were caught by the office supervisor ( a lady). She didn't like it at all and wanted the pair fired, after high level discussions the President told the supervisor that something had to go and ordered her to get rid of the table!!

[rotornut]

If my plane's a rockin'
Don't come a knockin'!

[747FOCAL]

Hey Wingnut:

Thats "If my plane is a knocking, don't bother knocking..... come on in"


To be honest, He had it coming. There were a lot in the front office gunning for him. I would feel much more confident about the launch of the 787 and the 747 Advanced now that Harry is not targetting BCAG for elimination in Lieu high dollar military contracts.

[Re-Heat]

What on earth does SOX have to do with this?!

Quite frankly, he is suposed to be whiter that white in such a position - there is no information as to the nature of the relationship or whether it involved any abuse of power etc, so no comment can really be made on it being a PC move or not.

I rather tend to agree that someone is using it as an excuse to remove him however...

[Flight Safety]

Re-heat, SOX involvement could depend on the position (i.e. financial, etc) of the female executive. SOX can also play a role in creating personal relationship policies.

[BoeingMEL]

He broke the (strict) rules - rather foolishly - and paid for it. Horny legover politicians who hang on by their fingernails please note! Looks like a shockingly expensive tryst..... surely Harry would have made millions more in the next few years? Shame. bm

[rotornut]

Looks like he got caught with his...um, gear down.:oh:

[bonvol]

If this stuff catches on we will have no executives left :E

The Qantas boss must be quaking in his boots.

[barit1]

Harry had this reputation even before his McD-D days. No surprise to his old colleagues.

[ElectroVlasic]

Looks like we will have to rename the company from BOEING to BOING! Or maybe BOINK?

Ok, ok, I'll get me coat...

[Packsonflight]

Maby Harrys departure has something to do with the Pentagon scandal. When Condit was fired and Harry was brought onboard it was because of his "inpeccable reputation with Pentagon"

[brabazon]

As the saying goes:

"Don't dip your pen in the company ink."

Sounds like Harry just couldn't resist.

[WHBM]

Well ....... anyone get the impression people didn't seem to like him !!

[Rollingthunder]

Hey, his signature was at the bottom of the Boeing "Code of Conduct" Pretty dumb move subsequent to that. Besides he was 67 - overdue for retirement. Or was he more special than his unionized employees?

[Airbubba]

Look for Boeing Vice-President for Operations and Commerical Activities Debra Peabody to resign, shop for a book deal and file a lawsuit.

Poor thing, she was only a vice-president, she didn't know...

[rotornut]

Ousted Boeing CEO gets $2.1M bonus
By Jim Jelter, MarketWatch
Last Update: 8:03 PM ET March 10, 2005


SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Just days after demanding Boeing Chief Executive Officer and President Harry Stonecipher's resignation, the company said Thursday it will hand him a $2.1 million incentive bonus and keep him on the payroll until April 1.

Stonecipher, 68, was asked by Boeing's (BA: news, chart, profile) board of directors to step down Sunday after it discovered he was having an affair with a female executive. He was brought into the company's top position in late 2003 to restore its tarnished image after a series of scandals stemming from its defense contracts. See full story.

The Chicago-based aerospace giant will continue to pay Stonecipher's salary at an agreed rate of $1.5 million a year through the end of the month, a decision that will deposit roughly $60,000 -- pre-tax -- in Stonecipher's bank account before he officially leaves.

The company, in a special 8-K filing late Thursday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, said Stonecipher also will continue to receive benefits under the Boeing's pension value plan and supplemental executive retirement plan until April 1.

The company said that while Stonecipher's affair "reflected poorly on his judgment" and was "inconsistent" with Boeing's code of conduct, his nevertheless qualified for the bonus for his ability to focus the company and boost its financial performance.

Over the past year, Boeing's shares rose from a low of $38.04 to a high of $58.74 just two days before Stonecipher's sudden exit.

According to the filing, Stonecipher elected to take the bonus in company stocks, placing the entire amount in a deferred compensation plan, to vest upon retirement and subject to a 25 percent company match.

While Boeing grants performance and career shares to its senior executives in February, it said the board decided against granting any such long-term incentives to Stonecipher in 2005.

As for his continued use of the corporate jet, the company said the former CEO must now clear it with Lewis Platt, the board's non-executive chairman.

[Konkordski]

Maybe Harry mistook it for Boeing's Code of Condit... ;)

[barit1]

Boeing once again taps an ex-GE executive as CEO:

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/050630/boeing_ceo.html?.v=17

The only surprise is that the successful candidate kept denying that he was interested in the job.

But then again, I guess that's no surprise.