Neil Hughes
Apple on Thursday announced a new addition to its board of directors: former chief financial officer and interim CEO of The Boeing Company.
Bell spent 38 years at Boeing, where he also oversaw Boeing Capital Corporation and Boeing Shared Services. He served as the airplane manufacturer's interim CEO in 2005.
"James brings a wealth of global, financial and industrial experience from his successful career at Boeing as corporate president and CFO," said Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook. "I am thrilled to welcome him to Apple's board of directors and I look forward to working with him."
Bell is also a member of the boards of JP Morgan Chase, Dow Chemical Company, and CDW. He's a Trustee of Chicago's Rush University Medical Center, and has worked with New Leaders for New Schools to help develop talented teachers and principals.
"I am an avid user of Apple products and have a tremendous respect for the company's ability to innovate," Bell said. "I am delighted to join the Apple board and look forward to contributing to its continued success in any way I can."
The former Boeing executive attended California State University, Los Angeles, where he earned a bachelor's degree in accounting.
"We look for outstanding individuals to strengthen our board's breadth of talent and depth of knowledge, and we are very happy to have identified a fantastic person in James Bell," said Art Levinson, chairman of the Apple Board of directors. "I'm confident that he will make many important contributions to Apple."
Former Apple board member Mickey Drexler left the company in March, six months after Bill Campbell ended his 17-year tenure on the board.
As Apple continues to find tremendous financial success, investors in the company have placed overwhelming confidence in its board of directors, reelecting them with 95 percent support at this year's annual shareholder meeting.
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30 Comments
Fire Al Gore!!! What expertise does he bring to Apple's board? How to scam people by selling imaginary green energy credits? Get him out of there!
Glad Drexler will be gone. I have no idea what some (fading) clothing retailer had to do with Apple (and no, his retail aesthetic has nothing to do with it, since J Crew stores are an incomprehensible mess, with poor product displays; at least, in the men's section).
Boeing is a superbly managed company, and Bell did an outstanding job there. He is a terrific addition.
I hope Al Gore, Andrea Jung and Art Levinson will be the next ones to be jettisoned.
[quote name="anantksundaram" url="/t/188611/apple-adds-former-boeing-cfo-james-bell-to-its-board-of-directors#post_2784663"]Glad Drexler will be gone. I have no idea what some (fading) clothing retailer had to do with Apple (and no, his retail aesthetic has nothing to do with it, since J Crew stores are an incomprehensible mess, with poor product displays; at least, in the men's section). Boeing is a superbly managed company, and Bell did an outstanding job there. He is a terrific addition. I hope Al Gore, Andrea Jung and Art Levinson will be the next ones to be jettisoned. [/quote] Didn't Levinson leak inside information to the press previously? I seem to recall his connection to something that was a bad leak for Apple. I did find this: http://business.time.com/2013/09/18/googles-calico-could-pose-a-conflict-for-apple-chairman-arthur-levinson/
Also, the stock is getting pummeled again this morning. Looking like AAPL could be headed to $103 or $100.
This is very interesting because... 1. Apple acquired Coherent Navigations this year. 2. Coherent Navigation was developing a commercial high-precision navigation service that leverages the Iridium satellite network. (iGPS) 3. Boeing had been leading the development of proprietary iGPS with Coherent Navigations. Could we have pilot-less self-flying planes/cars in the near future? (A la Jetsons) [VIDEO]https://youtu.be/FeOVa8D82bs[/VIDEO] [IMG ALT=""]http://forums.appleinsider.com/content/type/61/id/63537/width/350/height/700[/IMG][IMG ALT=""]http://forums.appleinsider.com/content/type/61/id/63536/width/350/height/700[/IMG] With GPS accuracy to the centimeter with Coherent Navigations Iridium, a self flying plane would be much easier to do then a self driving car. Time will tell.