WASHINGTON - Boeing said Tuesday it was happy to take its time over finding a successor to chief executive Harry Stonecipher, who was ousted in a sex scandal, with both insiders and outsiders under consideration.
The aviation giant's chairman, Lew Platt, said the board was hoping to get a new CEO with a solid background in manufacturing.
"We won't pluck someone from banking," he told investors in a conference call, while adding that the company is not "setting any artificial deadlines" to find a new leader.
The 68-year-old Stonecipher was forced to resign in March after the revelation of a "personal relationship" with a female executive at the company.
The married Stonecipher, a tough-talking former engineer, has been replaced on an interim basis by Boeing chief financial officer James Bell.
Platt indicated that Bell and Alan Mulally, head of commercial airplanes, were two figures under consideration for the permanent CEO job.
"There are obvious advantages to having an inside candidate rather than an outsider," the chairman said, citing detailed knowledge of the company and its staff.
But an external candidate could always bring in fresh thinking, he said.
The board would like someone with specific aerospace experience but this is not a "must," and someone who has either run or understudied the running of a "fairly large and complex business."
"Comfort in dealing with Washington is pretty close to a must," Platt added, noting that half of Boeing's business is with the US government.
05/24/2005 16:21 GMT