AlliedSignal Exec Named to Succeed Raytheon Chief

Raytheon Co. on Wednesday ended an almost yearlong search for a successor to Chairman Dennis Picard by naming AlliedSignal Inc.’s Daniel Burnham as president.

Burnham, 51, will join Raytheon on July 1 as president and chief operating officer before becoming chief executive on Dec. 1, the company said. Picard, 65, will remain chairman no more than another year.

Raytheon became the world’s third-largest aerospace company last year when it completed $12.5 billion in acquisitions, most notably the $9.5-billion purchase of General Motors Corp.’s Hughes defense business.

Burnham will have the task of cutting costs and wringing higher profit from the company while invigorating a stock that has languished since the end of last year.

Raytheon said neither Picard nor Burnham was available to comment.

Burnham is now vice chairman at AlliedSignal, the Morris Township, N.J.-based maker of aerospace and auto parts, chemicals, plastics and advanced materials.

AlliedSignal said it named Burnham’s fellow vice chairman, Frederic Poses, 55, to the newly created position of president and chief operating officer after Burnham’s resignation.

Poses’ promotion, effective immediately, puts him in the running to succeed Chairman and Chief Executive Lawrence Bossidy, who plans to retire April 1, 2000.

During the search, some investors criticized Picard’s plan to stay on as chairman into 1999, arguing that Raytheon would have a harder time attracting the best candidates if Picard didn’t turn over the reins sooner.

Raytheon shares rose $2.38 to close at $53.19 on the New York Stock Exchange. Allied Signal rose $1.13 to close at $41.63, also on NYSE.