- Navistar International Corp. has jettisoned Chairman and CEO Daniel Ustian, whose strategy to meet EPA engine-emissions regulations failed miserably.
- Navistar on Monday said Ustian will retire, "effective immediately," after 37 years with the company.
- Navistar appointed former Textron Inc. chief Lewis Campbell as interim CEO, and promoted Navistar Truck and Engine executive Troy Clark to president and COO.
Big Challenge Ahead
Campbell, who will serve as executive chairman of the Navistar board in addition to interim CEO, is no stranger to turnarounds.
The 66-year-old led a major overhaul of Textron's operations, serving as chairman, president and CEO of the Providence, R.I.-based diversified manufacturer from 1999 to 2009.
Prior to joining Textron as COO in 1992, Campbell spent 24 years in various positions at General Motors Co. (IW 500/4).
"Lewis Campbell is a high-caliber executive who brings to Navistar deep and broad strategic, technical and operational skills and a proven track record of leadership with global industrial companies," Michael Hammes, Navistar's independent lead director, said in a news release.
Campbell will have his work cut out for him at Navistar.
The company plans to incorporate the EPA-compliant 15-liter Cummins ISX15 engine into certain Navistar trucks in January, and introduce its own 13-liter engine featuring CSR technology in early 2013.
That's an aggressive schedule for a company that has "a history of not executing" when it needs to execute, Rayle said.
On top of that, the company just switched CEOs in the midst of "one of the biggest strategy changes since they spun off their [agriculture-equipment] business in the 1980s," he added.
Still, Rayle called the decision to oust Ustian a "net positive."
"When you're losing money hand over fist during an up cycle, while all of your competitors are doing fairly well, it's time to go at some point," Rayle said.
