Boeing strips CEO of chairman title

Boeing stripped CEO Dennis Muilenburg of his title of chairman of its board but retained him as chief executive hours after a government report faulted the company over the 737 Max certification process. 

Boeing announced in a statement Friday that it separated the CEO and chairman roles to allow Muilenburg to “focus full time on running the company as it works to return the 737 MAX safely to service, ensure full support to Boeing’s customers around the world, and implement changes to sharpen Boeing’s focus on product and services safety.”

The chairman role will go to David Calhoun, an executive of The Blackstone Group, a private equity firm.

{mosads}”I am fully supportive of the board’s action. Our entire team is laser-focused on returning the 737 MAX safely to service and delivering on the full breadth of our company’s commitments,” Muilenburg said in the statement. 

Calhoun said in the statement that the board has “full confidence” in Muilenburg as CEO. 

“This division of labor will enable maximum focus on running the business with the board playing an active oversight role,” he said. 

Calhoun added that the board soon plans to name a new director with safety experience to its Aerospace Safety Committee.

Boeing has faced scrutiny after two crashes of its 737 Max planes killed 346 people in the last year.

A recent report from a task force made up of U.S. and foreign aviation authorities found that the company did not sufficiently inform regulators about aspects of an automated system that contributed to the crashes. 

A Boeing spokesperson told The Hill in a statement on Friday that the company was reviewing the report’s recommendations.