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Honeywell Inc. President James J. Renier has been elected to succeed Edson W. Spencer as CEO. Spencer, 61, who had served as CEO for 13 years, will continue as chairman of the Minneapolis firm.

Renier, 57, joined Honeywell in 1956 as a senior research scientist. In 1965, he was named to head the company’s Systems & Research Center and from 1970 to 1974 was a vice president in the firm’s Information Systems business.

He became group vice president for the Aerospace & Defense division in 1976, and was named president of Honeywell Controls Systems and elected to the board of directors in 1979. He then became president of Information Systems and vice chairman in 1982, and president and chief operating officer of the company in May of 1986.

Honeywell is an international electronics corporation that supplies automation and control systems for homes and buildings, industry, aerospace and defense.