Jim McNerney is stepping down as Boeing chairman and will be succeeded March 1 by Dennis Muilenburg, who will remain the company’s CEO as well.
Boeing, which has a large presence in the Seattle region, said in a statement that independent lead director Kenneth Duberstein continues in that role.
McNerney, 66, joined the Boeing board in 2001 and was elected chairman in 2005.
Muilenburg, 52, was named Boeing CEO in July, at which time McNerney indicated he would retire in 2016. During a decade as Boeing CEO, McNerney was admired by some as a numbers guy whose relentless push for efficiency and lower costs delivered stellar profits.
Yet he alienated engineers and machinists in the Pacific Northwest with what they considered his coldblooded approach to moving work and forcing union concessions.
