Boeing rearranges board: two longtime directors to resign

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American plane manufacturer Boeing disclosed plans to rearrange its board. Two members are resigning from it.

According to Boeing announcement, Arthur Collins and Susan Schwab, two longtime directors, would step down in April 2020 as the company’s board is undergoing changes in the wake of the Boeing 737 MAX crisis. Arthur Collins has been the Director at Boeing board since 2007, while his colleague Susan Schwab got the leading position in the company in 2010. 

Both veterans of the board would not stand for re-election at Boeing’s annual shareholder meeting on April 20, 2021, Boeing announced. Larry Kellner, the Chairman at Boeing, outlined that the board would continue to take further steps to “identify a pipeline of diverse candidates with appropriate expertise”. However, the plane manufacturer did not make public who are the candidates.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the retirements have been under the company’s consideration for a while as a part of Boeing’s efforts to bring new people with fresh insights onto the board. In order to navigate the fallout over the grounding of its 737 MAX aircraft, the board has been implementing changes over the company‘s engineering and industrial operations since 2019.  

After the fatal crashes, Boeing has implemented numerous changes to its leadership team, including the most recent two resignations of Caroline Kennedy and Nikki Haley, former U.S. ambassadors, in January 2021 and March 2020, respectively. 

Furthermore, the plane manufacturer had separated roles of the Chairman and Chief Executive roles in the company and created a new Aerospace Safety Committee as well as added two new directors experienced in aircraft engineering and safety.