James Aaron Bell (born June 4, 1948) is a retired American executive of

The Boeing Company The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...

. Bell is a retired president, executive vice president and

chief financial officer The chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization that is assigned the primary responsibility for managing the company's finances, including financial planning, management of financial risks, record-keeping, and fina ...

. He served as interim

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

of the Boeing Company on March, 2005, following the resignation of

Harry Stonecipher Harry Curtis Stonecipher (born May 16, 1936) is an American business executive who was president and chief executive officer of American aerospace companies McDonnell Douglas and, later, The Boeing Company. Stonecipher was widely credited with ...

. (***User:SWP13>As of 11-2016, this reference no longer exist. *** He returned to his singular role as Boeing's CFO on June 30, 2005, following the appointment of

Jim McNerney Walter James "Jim" McNerney Jr. (born August 22, 1949) is a business executive who was President and CEO of The Boeing Company, June 2005–July 2015. McNerney was also Chairman from June 2005 until March 1, 2016. McNerney oversaw development of ...

as the new

chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the group ...

, and

of the

Boeing Company The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...

. He was appointed corporate president in June 2008.

Early life

On June 4, 1948, Bell was born in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. Bell was the youngest of four children. Bell's mother Mamie was a former

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the List of the most populous counties in the United States, most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, ...

government clerk. His father died in 2003.

Education

In 1971, Bell earned his bachelor's degree in

accounting Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the measurement, processing, and communication of financial and non financial information about economic entities such as businesses and corporations. Accounting, which has been called the "languag ...

from

California State University, Los Angeles California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA) is a public university in Los Angeles, California. It is part of the 23-campus California State University (CSU) system. Cal State LA offers 142 bachelor's degrees, 122 master's degrees, ...

. A partial scholarship helped pay for his first year of college, but he had to earn enough to pay his way through the remainder of school.

Career

In 1972 he joined the Rockwell company as an accountant. At that company he followed a path into

management Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activitie ...

, from corporate senior internal

auditor An auditor is a person or a firm appointed by a company to execute an audit.Practical Auditing, Kul Narsingh Shrestha, 2012, Nabin Prakashan, Nepal To act as an auditor, a person should be certified by the regulatory authority of accounting and a ...

to accounting manager and finally as manager of general and cost accounting. He joined Boeing in 1996 when Rockwell's aerospace and defense units were acquired. Within Boeing, he has held positions as vice president of contracts and pricing for the company's Space and Communications Division. He later became senior vice president of finance and corporate controller. In November 2004 he became the company's

, following the firing of Michael M. Sears due to a government contract scandal. He is a member of the

board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit orga ...

of J. P. Morgan Chase,

Dow Chemical The Dow Chemical Company, officially Dow Inc., is an American multinational chemical corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. The company is among the three largest chemical producers in the world. Dow manufactures plastics ...

Company, the Chicago Urban League, World Business Chicago, the Chicago Economic Club, New Leaders for New Schools and

Apple Inc Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company ...

. Bell retired from the Boeing Company effective April 1, 2012. On February 1, 2012, Greg Smith succeeded Bell as executive vice president and chief financial officer of Boeing Company.Feb 1, 2012. ''Boeing CFO James Bell Announces April 2012 Retirement''

Career path

Awards

In 2004, at the 32nd Alumni Awards Gala, Bell was the recipient of

's Distinguished Alumnus or Alumna of the College of Business and Economics.

Personal

Bell is married to Mary. Bell has two children, Champagne and Sean.32nd Alumni Awards Gala (2004) Biography His campaign contributions were to Democratic party politicians.

References

External links

James A. Bell executive biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, James A. American chief executives of manufacturing companies American chief financial officers Boeing people Businesspeople from Illinois California State University, Los Angeles alumni Directors of Dow Inc. Directors of Apple Inc. 1948 births Living people