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Boeing CFO flies to Lucent
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By Staff Writer John Chartier April 24, 2000: 1:10 p.m. ET
Move by Hopkins, credited with aerospace company's turnaround, surprises many
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - In a blow to Boeing Co., Deborah Hopkins, the highflying accounting wizard hired to restore financial discipline to the aerospace company, announced Monday that she is leaving to join Lucent Technologies as its new chief financial officer.
The move surprised Wall Street because Hopkins only joined the Seattle-based company 18 months ago and was well regarded by analysts who credit her with helping turn the company around.
Hopkins, 45, reports to her new job this week although her employment at Lucent became effective Friday. Taking over her job at Boeing is 51-year-old Walter Skowronski, Boeing's current vice president and treasurer and former Lockheed Martin executive.
Hopkins, who placed sixth on Fortune Magazine's top 50 list of the most powerful women in business, is credited with putting Boeing's stock back on the upswing by enforcing accounting discipline. Before her arrival, executives at Boeing -- which manufactures most of the 747 and 737 commercial aircraft, the F/A-18 Hornet strike fighter and the Apache Longbow helicopter -- were not sure which product lines were profitable for the company.
"It's definitely a surprise. She's only been there a year, and she has been a major agent of change for the company," said Christopher Mecray, an analyst with Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown. "Her loss is very real because the lack of her leadership within the financial organization could be a real problem. Boeing is going to have to find someone of equal pro-activity in that area in order to keep up Wall Street's confidence."
Aerospace a 'macho' industry
Hopkins said she is not leaving because of any friction with management, or specifically due to any family considerations, but noted that the opportunity at Lucent arose quickly.
However, analysts suspect that Hopkins might have faced stiff competition from some colleagues, including Harry Stonecipher, the company's president and chief operating officer with whom she was vying for the chief executive officer's job when Phil Condit, the current CEO, retires in a few years.
"She made it clear she intended some day to be CEO, and she may have seen it wasn't going to be as readily achievable as she thought," Paul Nisbet, an analyst with JSA Research Inc. said.
Another possibility Nisbet sees for Hopkins' departure is her difficulty overcoming what he sees as a "macho" attitude in the aerospace industry.
"The aerospace industry seems to have troubles finding and retaining female executives," Nisbet said. "I suppose there is a different atmosphere in that industry than in the others because your primary customers are normally the fliers and the military, and of course the commercial, and they're fairly jealously hanging on to their all-male setup. So it may be part of an attitude there."
A Boeing spokesman was not immediately available for comment Monday.
Hopkins insists she took the job in order to join a high-tech company and not because of any friction with colleagues.
"Really what it has to do with is looking at it from my perspective, the exciting growth prospects that Lucent is focused on," Hopkins said in an interview with CNNfn.com. "We discussed this during the week. Obviously there's disappointment, but I have great respect and frankly deep fondness for both Harry [Stonecipher, Boeing's president] and Phil [Condit, Boeing's chairman]. It was a hard decision. These are not decisions that are made quickly, or on an emotional whim. It was not a simple decision to make as an individual, and as a family."
She also said joining Lucent was like getting back to her roots as an executive with computer maker Unisys.
Earlier in the day, Hopkins said she was excited at the prospect of going to work for Lucent.
 "I enjoy the passion and velocity of a high-tech company, and Lucent is at the center of one of the fastest growing industries today," Hopkins said. "When I was offered the opportunity to join Lucent and Rich McGinn's senior team, I couldn't pass it up."
Hopkins will relocate to Far Hills, N.J., with her husband and two children. Her three adult stepchildren live in Great Britain.
Hopkins succeeds Donald Peterson, who is now CEO of Murray Hill, N.J.-based Lucent's new Enterprise Networks group, which it intends to spin off later this year. Her 1999 compensation was just over $1 million, including a salary of $473,271, a $633,600 bonus and other compensation of about $143,000, according to Boeing's 2000 proxy statement.
Terms of her deal with Lucent were not disclosed Monday.
"Debby is a dynamic leader with a proven track record of success not only in finance, but also in corporate strategy and operations," said Richard McGinn, Lucent's chairman and CEO. "Her experience, ability and enthusiasm will make her an immediate and significant asset to our leadership team."
Hopkins joined Boeing in 1998 after leaving General Motors Europe where she was vice president of finance and CFO. She was charged with revitalizing the company, which posted its first earnings loss in 50 years after acquiring former rival McDonnell Douglas for $16 billion in 1997.
Boeing has eliminated thousands of jobs over the last few years and has incurred millions in charges from cutting production of several McDonnell Douglas aircraft.
 That's when Hopkins came in and put a number of initiatives into play that helped restore profitability and Wall Street's confidence in the company.
She said that she feels confident that Boeing will continue on the track she helped put it on and that it will return to profitability.
In addition to her positions at Boeing, Hopkins spent 13 years at Unisys Corp. (UIS: Research, Estimates), at which she was vice president and general manager of the systems integration and consulting division.
Lucent (LU: Research, Estimates) shares were down 2-7/16 to 60-5/8 at the close of trading Monday. Boeing (BA: Research, Estimates) shares slipped 2-3/16 to 37-7/8. 
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Lucent Technologies
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