Boeing

Phil Condit, chairman and chief executive officer of The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA), today announced that Thomas R. Pickering, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, will join the company as senior vice president, International Relations, signaling a significant milestone in the company's strategic global efforts. Pickering's appointment will take place in January following his retirement from the U.S. government and approval by the Boeing Board of Directors.

In this newly created position, Ambassador Pickering, who will be based in Washington, D.C., will oversee Boeing's increased dealings internationally, and will focus on strengthening the Company's relationships around the world, including those with foreign governments. He will report to the Office of the Chairman and will serve on the Executive Council, the company's senior leadership team.

"In recent years, Boeing has acknowledged the importance of its global activities," said Condit. "We have become concerned about how to best organize the company to work in the increasingly global business environment of the 21st century.

"With his extraordinary knowledge and experience in global matters, Tom will now lead our strategic efforts to take this global focus to a new and increasingly important level," Condit said. "We will look to him to forge critical new partnerships and relationships around the world and to build on our already established global presence."

Condit said that in the past year Boeing's global presence has grown through the opening or expansion of offices in Brussels, Tokyo, Beijing, Hong Kong, London, Paris, Moscow and in Africa. The company also has increased its presence in Australia, where it employs nearly 3,000 people. Condit also cited the company's recent acquisition of Jeppesen Sanderson, which employs 1,400 people in Germany, Australia, China, the United Kingdom, as well as in the U.S.

"We are pleased that someone with Tom's remarkable credentials and proven global track record will help lay the foundation for future success in our international efforts," Condit added.

Since May 1997, Pickering has served as U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. Prior to that, he served briefly as the president of the Eurasia Foundation, a Washington-based organization that makes small grants and loans in the states of the former Soviet Union.

Pickering holds the personal rank of Career Ambassador, the highest in the U.S. Foreign Service. In a diplomatic career spanning five decades, he has served as U.S. ambassador to the Russian Federation, India, Israel, El Salvador, Nigeria, and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Pickering also served on assignments in Zanzibar and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. From 1989 to 1993, he served as Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York.

Pickering was born on Nov. 5, 1931 in Orange, N.J. He received a bachelor's degree, cum laude, with high honors in history, from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. In 1954, he received a master's degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to the University of Melbourne in Australia, and received a second master's degree in 1956. In 1984, he received an honorary doctorate-in-laws degree from Bowdoin College, and has received similar honors from 10 other universities.

In 1983 and in 1986, Pickering won the Distinguished Presidential Award and, in 1996, the Department's Distinguished Service Award. He is a member of the International Institute of Strategic Studies and the Council on Foreign Relations. He speaks French, Spanish, Swahili, Arabic and Hebrew.

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