Navistar Ousts CEO, Names Ex-Textron Chief New Leader

Navistar International announced that the board of directors has appointed Lewis B. Campbell, former chairman, president, and chief executive officer of Textron, executive chairman of the board of directors and interim chief executive officer replacing Daniel C. Ustian who is retiring, effective immediately.

The company also announced that it has promoted Troy A. Clarke, currently president of truck and engine operations at Navistar, to the position of president and chief operating officer of Navistar.

In a related story, the Chicago Tribune said investors had been clamoring for the move since Navistar reported a second-quarter loss of $172 million. The Tribune noted that the call for a new leader grew louder this month when Navistar said it made a deal to buy engines from a competitor to meet 2010 emission standards. Navistar also disclosed it is the target of a SEC investigation “related to certain accounting and disclosure matters” and withdrew its full-year earnings forecast until September, when it releases third-quarter results.

Michael N. Hammes, Navistar’s independent lead director said, “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 – including 24 years of experience in product design, engineering and manufacturing in General Motors’ automotive, trucking and component businesses and 17 years in senior leadership positions at Textron including more than 10 years as chairman, president and CEO.”

To read the Navistar news release click here.

To read the related Chicago Tribune story click here.