Bombardier Names New President and CEO

In a major leadership transition at one of Canada’s largest companies, aerospace and transportation equipment maker Bombardier Inc. said that Robert Brown, a Bombardier family outsider, will become president and chief executive, replacing Laurent Beaudoin. Beaudoin, 60, said Brown’s appointment will be effective Feb. 1. Beaudoin, currently chairman, will become executive chairman and president of Bombardier’s executive committee, overseeing the company’s long-term orientation. Brown, 53, is currently president and chief operating officer of Bombardier Aerospace--the fast-growing division that has turned the company into the world’s third-largest civil aircraft maker, after Seattle’s Boeing Co. and European consortium Airbus Industrie.