Chicago, Dallas, And Denver In Running For Boeing's New HQ

ByJohn S. McClenahen The news is as startling as Europe's Airbus Industrie leaving Toulouse. But aerospace rival Boeing Co. is pulling its corporate headquarters out of Seattle. "As we've grown, we have determined that our headquarters needs to be in a location central to all our operating units, customers, and the financial community -- but separate from our existing operations," says Phil Condit, chairman and CEO. Three U.S. cities are in the running: Chicago, Dallas/Ft. Worth, and Denver. Boeing expects to make its selection by "early summer"' and to have an operations center in place at its new headquarters location by fall. The company expects that the new corporate center will have fewer than half of the 1,000 people who work in its current Seattle headquarters. In another change, effective immediately, the presidents of Boeing's three largest operating units -- Alan Mulally, commercial airplanes; Jerry Daniels, military aircraft & missile systems; and Jim Albaugh, space and communications -- gain the additional title of CEO. Reminiscent of the executive title changes that chairman and CEO John F. Welch Jr. introduced at General Electric Co. several years ago, Condit asserts that the new titles will give the three Boeing senior executives "more freedom to deliver the operational improvements and seize the growth opportunities facing their businesses."