Rumors We Would Like To Hear: Alan Mulally To Rejoin Boeing

The Boeing board could finally do something for its long-suffering shareholders. It can offer Ford (NYSE: F) CEO Alan Mulally a huge compensation package to return to the aerospace firm. Boeing’s stock is down 5% in the last five years. Ford’s is higher by 100%.

Ford is considered one of the great corporate turnarounds of the last decade, and Mulally is regularly mentioned as the best CEO in America over that period. Only Steve Jobs of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) is listed as often.

Boeing CEO W. James (Jim) McNerney, Jr became CEO of Boeing in 2005. Mulally, then CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, was considered by many the most logical person to take the chief executive position.

Boeing’s problems have been primarily related to a long list of trouble with the launch of its 787 Dreamliner. Early development of the Dreamliner began in 2003. The first delivery of the 787 was pushed off half a dozen times. It will finally be available this year. Delays have been caused by software programs, labor problems, parts shortages, and lack of available parts. McNerney has never been held accountable by his board for these issues, at least not based on his compensation packages.

Mullaly has done his work at Ford. It is once again a first class manufacturing, marketing, and production operation. Boeing is not any of these things. Mulally would change that.

Douglas A. McIntyre