Beaudoin to succeed Beaudoin at helm

Bombardier Inc said on Wednesday it had named Pierre Beaudoin as its new CEO, taking over from his father, Laurent, who will remain chairman of the global plane and train maker.

The move comes as Bombardier reported an almost 23 percent rise in third-quarter profit amid strong orders for trains and planes, despite bad publicity in the quarter over several crash landings of one of its turboprop aircraft due to landing gear failure.

The company, headquartered in Montreal but reporting in US dollars, said third-quarter profit rose to $91 million, or 5 cents a share, from $74 million, or 4 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Revenue hit $4.23 billion, up from $3.40 billion a year earlier.

Pierre Beaudoin, currently head of the aerospace unit, will become CEO, effective with the next annual meeting on June 4. He has worked at Bombardier for 22 years, heading Bombardier Aerospace for six years, and has been executive vice-president and a director of Bombardier Inc since 2004.

The 45-year-old was previously president of Bombardier Recreational Products, maker of Ski-Doo and Sea-Doo products.

Laurent Beaudoin, son-in-law of founder Armand Bombardier, had become chief executive in 1979 and returned to the job three years ago after the abbreviated tenures of non-family CEOs Robert Brown and Paul Tellier.

Agencies

(China Daily 11/30/2007 page16)