Boeing Jet Marketing Chief to Retire: Duties Will Be Split Between Sales and Finance Units

Oct. 10, 2013 3:07 p.m. ET

By  Jon Ostrower

The Wall Street Journal

The head of marketing for Boeing Co.'s commercial airplanes division is retiring and the company is reorganizing its marketing and business development organizations.

Mike Bair,  a 34-year veteran of the Chicago-based aircraft maker, will step down on Nov. 1. Ray Conner , chief executive officer of commercial airplanes, disclosed the move on Thursday in a memo to employees that didn't give a reason for Mr. Bair's retirement.

Mr. Bair, 57, took over as vice president of marketing and business development in February 2012, after a string of senior positions including serving as the first program chief for the 787 Dreamliner from before the plane's launch in 2004 to October 2007, when the jet's development suffered its first delays. Mr. Bair was instrumental in the conception of the program, including its radical supply chain design, which was a major cause of the delays.

Production delays would end up costing Boeing billions of dollars and the Dreamliner would deliver 3½ years behind schedule. More recently, the 787 has suffered a spate of technical issues in service, including a 3½ month grounding after lithium-ion batteries burned on two Dreamliners.

Mr. Bair's planned departure comes as Boeing moves toward getting final approval from its board of directors to launch its new 777X, which has so far secured an order from Deutsche Lufthansa AG. Japan Airlines Co. on Monday selected the Airbus A350 over the 777X, owing its decision in part to the Dreamliner's delays. The decision, by one of Boeing's most loyal customers, was seen as a major victory for rival Airbus, a unit of European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co.

A Boeing spokesman had no comment on Mr. Bair's decision to retire, calling it a personal choice.

Mr. Conner said that Boeing will split Mr. Bair's responsibilities after his departure, with marketing becoming part of Boeing's commercial sales operation, headed by John Wojick , senior vice president of global sales. The business development role will become part of the finance division, headed Kevin Schemm, a vice president.

Mr. Conner's memo called Mr. Bair "a thought leader," and noted that Mr. Bair had worked on almost all the company's major commercial jetliner since he joined the company in 1979.

Before his current role, Mr. Bair was responsible for developing a strategy for its smallest jets. He advocated developing an all-new jet to replace its venerable 737 workhorse.

"I have a lot of scars, so I know what not to do this time around," he said of the effort in a 2011 interview.

Boeing ended up putting new engines on its 737 rather than developing an all new jet, a plan it abandoned when American Airlines parent AMR Corp. split an order for 460 jets with rival Airbus.

Source:  http://online.wsj.com