At 62, Calhoun will have the daunting task of restoring confidence in Boeing, mired in the 737 MAX crisis. Portrait.
He’s the new strong man for Boeing. Whoever has to forget the setbacks of the 737 MAX, its star plane nailed to the ground since mid-March. The worst crisis in the history of the American manufacturer. David Calhoun, who will take over the helm of the American aircraft manufacturer on January 13, is today more associated with the world of finance than the aeronautics sector despite a long stint at General Electric (GE). Current managing director of the investment company Blackstone, he was appointed in October 2019 chairman of the board of directors of Boeing, taking over part of the responsibilities of Dennis Muilenburg whose resignation was announced last Monday. “I have a lot of faith in the future of Boeing and the 737 MAX”, commented the future boss, who made his debut at Boeing in 2009 as an independent director. “I am honored to lead this great company and the 150,000 employees who work hard to create the future of aviation”, he added.
When hiring David Calhoun, Boeing opted for an expert in financial management and business strategy rather than an aeronautical specialist like Dennis Muilenburg.
But specialists in the sector do not hide their skepticism on the profile of David Calhoun. “What Boeing needs in the long term does not fit Dave Calhoun’s profile”, believes Michel Merluzeau, expert at Air Insight Research. “Boeing has too many financiers” in his ranks, therefore, David Calhoun could be a transition boss, he imagines.
After studying accounting at Virginia Tech, Mr. Calhoun joined GE in 1981. In a 2005 speech to this engineering school, he said that the role of leaders is “to inspire change”.
David Calhoun left GE in 2006 to head VNU Group, which would later become Nielsen Company, which went public in 2011.
At the Blackstone Group, where he has worked since January 2014, he focused on increasing the value of the company’s stakes, telling Bloomberg in 2017 that he preferred it when a management team “play in attack rather than in defense”. (AFP)
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