PROVIDENCE – Textron Inc. has tabbed Lisa Atherton, chief of the company's Bell segment, to replace longtime Textron CEO and President Scott C. Donnelly when he leaves that position in January.
Atherton, 51, who has had several executive roles at Textron since 2007, will start on Jan. 4 as CEO and president and will earn an annual base salary of $1.3 million, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
Donnelly, 64, is expected to stay with the company, serving as Textron executive chairman, with an annual base salary of $1.49 million. He will also be chairman of the board.
Donnelly has been Textron's chief executive since 2009.
The announcement about the change in leadership preceded Textron's third-quarter earnings report Thursday, in which the Providence-based global aerospace, aviation and defense manufacturer said it finished the three-month period ending Sept. 30 with a profit of $234 million, up 4.9% from $223 million a year ago.
The maker of Cessna small planes and Bell helicopters posted quarterly revenue of $3.6 billion, an increase from $3.43 billion the year prior. This did not meet Zacks Investment Research’s estimate of $3.71 billion.
"Overall, third quarter revenue was up 5% for Textron with higher revenues at Aviation, Bell, and Textron Systems," he said in a statement. "Higher Aviation deliveries, acceleration of MV-75 at Bell, and solid performance at Systems all contributed to a strong quarter."
The MV-75 is a multi-mission vertical-takeoff aircraft that's in production for the U.S. Army.
The company’s Textron Aviation segment, which manufactures jets and commercial turboprop planes, reported a profit of $79 million. That was up $51 million from a year ago, primarily due to a higher volume of sales and the mix of aircraft sold.
The company’s Bell segment, which manufactures helicopters, reported a profit of $92 million, down $6 million from last year’s third quarter despite a 10% increase in revenue for the quarter to $1 billion.
The Textron Systems segment reported a profit of $52 million, up from $13 million one year prior, largely due to a gain resulting from the early termination of a vendor contract.
The company’s industrial segment reported a profit of $31 million, down $1 million from the third quarter of 2024, in part because of lower revenue related to the divestiture of its Powersports business.
In the Textron earnings call on Thursday, Donnelly praised the appointment of Atherton, who has been CEO and president of Textron's Bell segment since April 2023. She had previously served as the CEO and president of the Textron Systems division for five years.
At Bell, which is headquartered in Texas, Atherton has been involved in the "capture, the win and now the execution of the ramp on MV-75," Donnelly said.
"We’re proud of the fact that we had a great internal promotion, and I think she’ll just do a fabulous job leading the company into the future," Donnelly said.
In addition to Atherton's base salary of $1.3 million, she is eligible to earn nearly $2 million more if she meets certain performance goals, according to Textron's public filings.
