New leaders bring different strengths to top

The future of the region's largest private employer has been turned over to its top salesman. He'll have an engineer who has worked on every major jet program for the past 30 years to help him run the factories.

On Friday, Boeing's board quickly decided to offer Alan Mulally's job of CEO of the commercial-airplane division to Scott Carson, who has been credited with invigorating jet sales since 2004.

And it named James Jamieson to the newly created post of chief operating officer.

The appointment of Carson, who has deep roots here, may reassure those worried about Boeing's commitment to the Puget Sound region. And while his appointment is unlikely to augur any major change in direction, an initial interview suggested a new resolve to work on improving the company's poor relations with its unions.

A 34-year Boeing veteran, Carson has spent all but two years of his career at the company in Seattle. He said he'd make a priority of talking to employees, particularly the union leadership.

Scott E. Carson


Age: 60

Family: Wife, Linda, and five children.

Boeing career: Joined Boeing in 1973 as a financial analyst on the B-1 bomber avionics program; moved into management in 1976; executive vice president and CFO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes; executive vice president of business resources for the former Boeing Information, Space & Defense Systems, 1997; led Connexion by Boeing, 2000; executive vice president and CFO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, 2004.

Very few in the industry had any advance notice of Mulally's departure. Invitations had just gone out to top aviation leaders to hear him give a keynote luncheon address Sept. 27 at the Museum of Flight before members of the Wings Club, a tony and sought-after industry gathering based in New York City but meeting in Seattle for the first time in many years.

It's unlikely Mulally will even be in town now.

Boeing Chairman and Chief Executive Jim McNerney made clear Tuesday he saw Carson — "the natural choice to step in" — as a safe pair of hands to keep Boeing flying on course.

James M. Jamieson


Age: 58

Family: Wife and three children

Boeing career: Senior vice president and chief technology officer; served as senior vice president, Airplane Programs; executive vice president of Single Aisle Airplane programs; vice president/general manager of 737/757 programs; vice president of Aircraft Systems & Interiors, director of Aircraft Interiors, chief project engineer for the Boeing 757; chief engineer of Customer Engineering for the Boeing 747/767; deputy chief project engineer for the Boeing 747.

"You think about what would happen if there was a near-term departure or a gap, and you think about the longer term," said McNerney in a conference call. "This was the near-term plan."

The immediate message: steady as she goes.

"The machine here at Boeing Commercial Airplanes is running very well," said Carson on the same call. "I'm quite comfortable continuing to implement the plan we have. ... I don't anticipate that, other than for style points, you'll see a dramatic difference in how we execute.

"Our style is similar; our personalities are different," Carson said, referring to Mulally. "He certainly is an outgoing and dominant personality. I'm probably a little more reserved in that regard."

At 60, Carson will take the top spot at Boeing Commercial Airplanes for only five years before he reaches the mandatory retirement age. But in an interview, he said he didn't see himself as a "fill-in or interim" chief executive.

Known as a warm "people person," Carson said he planned to meet with employee groups and with the union leadership in the next weeks or months.

"Their input is valuable in terms of us understanding the issues they have," he said. "Equally valuable is them understanding the world as we see it."

Carson said the next year is critical as the company approaches first flight of the 787, which will be assembled in Everett. The first big parts are due to begin arriving in January.

"We're absolutely counting on the work force here to execute," said Carson. "We see a great future here in the region."

Boeing Commercial Airplanes has 53,400 employees, most of whom work in the Puget Sound area.

Mark Blondin, president of District 751 of the International Association of Machinists, said Tuesday that despite numerous overtures, neither McNerney nor Mulally had sat down with him since the monthlong strike a year ago.

"I hope the new guy sees some value in sitting with the union," Blondin said. "If they consider us a problem, we're not going away."

Charles Bofferding, executive director of the white-collar union — the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA) — had a friendlier view of Mulally, one that colored his view of Carson.

Bofferding credited Mulally with a commitment to Boeing's technical people. He said Mulally personally intervened in contract negotiations last year to push through, against opposition from corporate headquarters in Chicago, the inclusion of SPEEA members in the company's Employee Incentive Plan.

"One reason we're encouraged with Scott Carson is he seems to have been groomed under Alan," said Bofferding. "We're hoping he has an appreciation and a desire to work with the unions."

In contrast, Bofferding said McNerney still hasn't found time to meet with him after more than a year as CEO.

"We're somewhat concerned what the true feeling at the corporate level is with regard to unions," he said.

Bofferding also drew distinctions between the two leaders' personalities.

"Alan is about as effervescent as you're going to get," he said. "Scott is not quite as effervescent, but he's very intelligent, and he has a playful side to him as well. He also has the confidence to explore new ideas."

Because Carson has focused on the sales, marketing and financial side of the business, with little experience in manufacturing or engineering operations, McNerney brought Senior Vice President Jim Jamieson back from Chicago to serve alongside Carson as chief operations officer and handle the execution of all airplane programs.

The dual leadership is a throwback to the time when Phil Condit was chief executive and Harry Stonecipher was the operations guy after Boeing merged with McDonnell Douglas in 1997.

Jamieson was responsible for implementing the "lean manufacturing" shift, modeled on the Toyota production system, that has transformed Boeing production.

After a long career in the Puget Sound region, Jamieson moved to Chicago in 2003 to take companywide leadership in technology.

"He has total command of the engineering and operations core of our business," said Carson.

Teal Group analyst Richard Aboulafia called the two "a good balance. One is more finance and sales, one more technical and engineering."

Having a history at Boeing's commercial unit is important, too. "It's best to have a seasoned executive from the organization," Aboulafia said.

But dual leadership may not be ideal longer term. "It doesn't sound like a stable, long-term equilibrium. It sounds like a temporary solution," said Adam Pilarski, an analyst with Avitas. "You cannot have a situation where you don't have one real boss."

Both McNerney and Carson made a point of running down the same list of top talent within the unit to illustrate the leadership strength. Topping both men's list were Mike Bair, 50, who heads the 787 program; and Mike Cave, 46, who heads all the existing airplane programs. Both men will report to Jamieson.

For now, it's Carson who has to keep everything on the successful track Mulally had set.

Carson said that a new head of the sales division will be appointed in days from internal candidates.

He said he looks forward to watching the first flight of the 787 next year as chief executive, an event he said that will be both "a tremendous physical manifestation of Alan's legacy" and "a shaping and defining moment in the history of commercial aviation."

Clearly, his salesmanship will have free rein now that he's in the top job.

Dominic Gates: 206-464-2963 or dgates@seattletimes.com

Staff reporters Melissa Allison and Kristi Heim contributed to this report.