Calvin Biesecker
Defense Daily
Boeing on Tuesday said it plans to move the headquarters of its St. Louis-based Defense, Space & Security segment to the Washington, D.C., area in January to be closer to its customers.
The initial move next month will involve about a dozen people, including Boeing’s Defense Chief Leanne Caret. Over time, the move could increase to more than 50 people, a company spokesman said.
“The move reflects our commitment to deepening our engagements with customers and decision makers,” Todd Blecher, spokesman for the defense business, said. “Having senior leadership in Washington, D.C., would allow us to be in somebody’s office in a matter of minutes should that be necessary.”
Blecher also said that “Caret believes that personal interactions are almost always more productive than phone calls, emails, video conferences, or any other ways of engaging with customers.”
The headquarters staff and executives making the move to the Washington, D.C., area will move into Boeing’s existing facility in the Crystal City section of Northern Virginia.
The Defense, Space & Security branch is a roughly $31 billion, 50,000-employee business covering everything from drone aircraft to satellites. The portfolio includes work on strategic missile systems and bombers. Boeing is competing for contracts to develop the next-generation ICBM, the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent. The Air Force plans to award two contracts for the program in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017. Boeing developed the original Minuteman missile beginning in 1958.
Boeing’s corporate headquarters are in Chicago.
The pending move of Boeing’s Defense headquarters means that four of the five big defense contractors will have their headquarters in the Washington, D.C., area after the start of 2017. Only Raytheon, which is based in Massachusetts, has its headquarters outside the area.
Separately, on Monday, Boeing announced that it is increasing the company’s quarterly dividend by 30 percent to $1.42 per share. The company also replaced its existing share repurchase program with a new $14 billion authorization.
“As our team delivers on our large and diverse order backlog, and drives greater efficiency across our business, Boeing is well positioned to generate increasing cash flows and meet our commitment to provide competitive returns to our shareholders,” Dennis Muilenburg, chairman, president, and CEO of Boeing, said in a statement. He also said the company continues to invest in its people and innovation.
In 2016, Boeing purchased $7 billion of its shares, half of the authorization approved last December. The company said repurchases are expected to resume in January and take place over the next 24 to 30 months.
