Boeing [BA] on Thursday said it has appointed Brian Besanceney as its new senior vice president and chief communications officer, filling a role that has been vacant since early June when Ed Dandridge left for personal reasons.
Besanceney, who is currently senior vice president and chief communications officer for Walmart [WMT], will report to Boeing President and CEO Dave Calhoun and serve on the company’s executive council. He starts with Boeing Sept. 6.
Before joining Walmart in 2017, Besanceney was in charge of public affairs and government relations at the Walt Disney Company
[DIS] for seven years. He has also served as deputy chief of staff to then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and as an assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security for a year during the administration of George W. Bush. He was also communications director for then Rep. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), who now is a U.S. senator.
“Brian is an outstanding communications executive with a proven record of leading global teams and helping several of the world’s well-known companies and organizations tell their stories, in addition to managing complex issues in the private sector and at the highest levels of government,” Calhoun said in a statement. “I am confident Brian will help us build on our ongoing commitment to engaging our employees and stakeholders transparently as we continue to navigate a challenging global environment and work to position Boeing for the long term.”
Besanceney will joint Boeing at a time when its commercial airplanes segment continues to recover from challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic and two catastrophic crashes of its 737 MAX passenger jet several years ago. The company’s defense business also continues to be beset with costly charges in a number of development programs.