William H. Swanson (born 1949) is an American businessman, engineer and car collector who is the former chairman and CEO of Raytheon Company (2004 -2014). [1]
William H. Swanson (born 1949) is an American businessman, engineer and car collector who is the former chairman and CEO of Raytheon Company (2004 -2014). [1]
A native of California, Swanson graduated magna cum laude from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo with a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering. He attended Cal Poly with the assistance of a golf scholarship. [2] He was awarded an honorary Doctorate from Pepperdine University and served on the Board of Regents of Pepperdine. He was selected as the Outstanding Industrial Engineering Graduate in 1972, and in 1991 was recognized as an Honored Alumnus by California Polytechnic State University College of Engineering. He attended a graduate degree program in business administration at Golden Gate University.
Swanson joined Raytheon in 1972 and held a wide range of leadership positions, including manufacturing manager of the company’s Equipment Division, general manager of the Missile Systems Division's Andover Plant, senior vice president and general manager of the Missile Systems Division, general manager of Raytheon Electronic Systems, and president, chairman and chief executive officer of Raytheon Systems Company.
Before becoming chairman of Raytheon in January 2004, Swanson was CEO and president of the company. Prior to that he was president of the company, responsible for Raytheon’s government and defense operations, including the four Strategic Business Areas of Missile Defense; Precision Engagement; Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR); and Homeland Security. Before that, he was a Raytheon executive vice president and president of Electronic Systems.
As a protégé of Chairman and CEO Dennis Picard and a long-time Raytheon insider, he was the expected candidate to succeed the retiring chairman in the late 1990s. However, Daniel Burnham, an outsider, was elected to succeed Dennis Picard as Chairman and CEO. After Burnham completed a five-year contract with Raytheon, Swanson was elevated to his position.
Swanson stepped down from the CEO position in March 2014 and retired from Raytheon entirely in September 2014. He was succeeded by Dr. Thomas A. Kennedy, who had previously served as Raytheon's Chief Operating Officer. [3]
Swanson is the owner and curator of an entirely-red collection of exotic vehicles based in Arroyo Grande, California. [4] The collection, which primarily houses Ferraris, includes cars from the 1960s to the modern day. The license plate on every car contains his initials “WHS" alongside a different number or letter(s). The collection currently includes: [5]
 | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (May 2011) |
Swanson released a short work called Swanson's Unwritten Rules of Management, thirty three sound-bite rules, including the comparatively well known "Waiter Rule".
On April 24, 2006, in a statement [13] released by Raytheon, Swanson admitted to plagiarism in claiming authorship for his booklet, "Swanson's Unwritten Rules of Management," after being exposed by an article in The New York Times . On May 2, 2006, Raytheon withdrew distribution of the book. [14] On May 3, 2006, Raytheon punished Swanson by reducing his compensation by approximately $1 million for publishing what was "later found to have been taken from a 1944 engineering classic, The Unwritten Laws of Engineering , by W. J. King." [15] Further investigation by the Boston Herald revealed that Swanson had also copied some of the rules from former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld [16] and columnist Dave Barry. [17]
The Boston Globe , the major newspaper in Raytheon's home town, reported "the move was largely symbolic given Swanson's robust $7 million pay package in 2005." [18]
Craig R. Barrett is an American business executive who served as the chairman of the board of Intel Corporation until May 2009. He became CEO of Intel in 1998, a position he held for seven years. After retiring from Intel, Barrett joined the faculty at Thunderbird School of Global Management in Phoenix.
A chief operating officer (COO) is an executive in charge of the daily operations of an organization, i.e., personnel, resources, and logistics. COOs are usually second-in-command immediately after the CEO, and reports directly to them and acts on their behalf in their absence.
Edward J. Zander is an American business executive. He was CEO and Chairman of the Board of Motorola from January 2004 until January 2008, remaining as chairman until May 2008. His work in the technology sector included management positions at Data General and Apollo Computer before joining Sun Microsystems in 1987, where he was later promoted to Chief Operating Officer and President.
Vance D. Coffman was the former chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Lockheed Martin Corporation. He has additionally served on the board of directors for 3M, John Deere, and Amgen.
Ursula M. Burns is an American businesswoman. Burns is renowned for her tenure as the CEO of Xerox, serving from 2009 to 2016, making her the first black woman to lead a Fortune 500 company. She also holds the distinction of being the first woman to follow another as the head of a Fortune 500 company. Burns remained the Chairman at Xerox from 2010 to 2017.
Curtis Raymond Carlson was president and CEO of SRI International from 1998 to 2014.
Ray R. Irani is the former chairman and chief executive officer of Occidental Petroleum. He has worked at Occidental Petroleum for over 20 years, serving as a director since 1984, chief operating officer (president) from 1984 to 1990, and chairman and chief executive officer from 1990. During his early years, he worked with Occidental CEO Armand Hammer, who at age 91, named Irani his successor in February 1990. According to Forbes.com, his five-year total compensation between 2001 and 2005 was $127,447,000. In 2006, after a rise in oil prices, Irani earned a total of $460 million.
Shantanu Narayen is an Indian-American business executive. He has been the chairman, president, and chief executive officer (CEO) of Adobe Inc. since December 2007. Before this, he was the company's president and chief operating officer since 2005.
Nicholas Michael Donofrio is an American scientist and engineer and was the Executive Vice President of Innovation and Technology at the IBM Corporation until 2008. Upon retirement, he was selected as an honorary IBM Fellow, the company’s highest technical honor. He holds seven technology patents, is a member of numerous technical and science honor societies, and holds several scientific board positions.
Barbara McConnell Barrett is an American businesswoman, attorney and diplomat who served as the United States secretary of the Air Force from 2019 to 2021. She is also an instrument-rated pilot, and cattle and bison rancher.
Herbert G. Chambers is an American billionaire businessman, owner and president of The Herb Chambers Companies, a group of 60 car dealerships in the greater Boston, Massachusetts area. In 2015, at the age of 74, he was named as one of the 400 richest Americans, ranking number 392, with an estimated $1.8 billion, by Forbes magazine.
Donald Blessing Rice is a California businessman and senior government official. He has been president and chief executive officer of several large companies including RAND Corporation, and has sat on numerous boards of directors, including Wells Fargo & Company. Rice also served as the 17th Secretary of the Air Force, from 1989 to 1993.
Kenneth C. Dahlberg is an American engineer and corporate executive. Dahlberg was CEO, chairman of the board, and president of Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). He became CEO on November 3, 2003 and chairman of the board on July 16, 2004.
Dirk I. Gates is an American businessman, founder and chief executive officer of two companies, Xircom and Xirrus.
Kevin Burke was the Chairman, President, and CEO of Consolidated Edison. He joined Consolidated Edison in 1973. He was promoted to Chief Operating Officer in 2000, President and CEO in 2005, and Chairman in 2006, serving until his retirement in 2013. He is a board member of Honeywell since 2010 and a trustee of Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
François Hubert Marie Perrodo is a French billionaire businessman, racing driver, and car collector. He is the chairman of Perenco, an oil and gas company with operations in 16 countries, which was founded by his father. In October 2023, Forbes estimated his family to be worth US$10 billion.
Călin Rovinescu, served as the president and chief executive officer of Air Canada from April 2009 to February 2021.
Thomas A. Kennedy is an American business executive. He was the chief executive officer (CEO) and chairman of the Raytheon Company from March 2014 to April 2020.
Thomas L. Phillips (1924-2019) was a chairman and chief executive officer at Raytheon.