William H. Swanson

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For the baseball player, see Bill Swanson (baseball).

William H. Swanson (born 1949) is the chairman and chief executive officer of Raytheon Company. Before becoming chairman in January 2004, he was CEO and president of the company. Prior to that he was president of the company, responsible for Raytheon’s government and defense operations, including the four Strategic Business Areas of Missile Defense; Precision Engagement; Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR); and Homeland Security. Before that, he was a Raytheon executive vice president and president of Electronic Systems.

1 Corporate biography
2 Plagiarism
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Corporate biography

A native of California, Swanson graduated magna cum laude from California Polytechnic State University, SLO with a bachelors degree in industrial engineering. He attended a graduate degree program in business administration at Golden Gate University. He was awarded an honorary Doctorate from Pepperdine University and currently serves on the Board of Regents of Pepperdine. He was selected as the Outstanding Industrial Engineering Graduate in 1972, and in 1991 was recognized as an Honored Alumnus by California Polytechnic State University School of Engineering.

Swanson joined Raytheon in 1972 and has held a wide range of leadership positions, including manufacturing manager of the company’s Equipment Division, general manager of the Missile Systems Division's Andover Plant, senior vice president and general manager of the Missile Systems Division, general manager of Raytheon Electronic Systems, and president, chairman and chief executive officer of Raytheon Systems Company.

As a protege of Chairman and CEO Dennis Picard and a long-time Raytheon insider, he was the expected candidate to succeed the retiring chairman in the late 90's. However, Daniel Burnham, an outsider, was elected to succeed Dennis Picard as Chairman and CEO. Financial reporting controversies and lagging company performance caused Burnham to retire early from the company. Swanson was then elevated to his current position.

Swanson is also a member of the board of directors of Sprint Nextel Corporation^[1], the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation Board of Directors^[2], the California Polytechnic State University President’s Cabinet^[3], and the Rose Kennedy Greenway board^[4]. Pepperdine University made him a member of their board of regents^[5] and awarded him an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.

Swanson is also a member of the Secretary of the Air Force Advisory Board and is a trustee of the Association of the United States Army. He serves as a member of the National Defense Industrial Association, the Navy League, the Air Force Association, and the Board of Governors of the Aerospace Industries Association. He is a member of the CIA Officers Memorial Foundation board of advisors, an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and a member of the President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee.

[edit] Plagiarism

On April 24, 2006, in a statement^[6] released by Raytheon, Swanson admitted to plagiarism in claiming authorship for his booklet, "Swanson's Unwritten Rules of Management," after being exposed by The New York Times. On May 2, 2006, Raytheon withdrew distribution of the book.^[7] On May 3, 2006, Raytheon "punished" Swanson by reducing his compensation by approximately $1 million for publishing what was "later found to have been taken from a 1944 engineering classic, "The Unwritten Laws of Engineering," by W. J. King."^[8] Further investigation by the Boston Herald revealed that Swanson had also copied some of "his" rules from Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and columnist Dave Barry [1].

The Boston Globe, the major newspaper in Raytheon's home town, reported "the move was largely symbolic given Swanson's robust $7 million pay package in 2005."^[9]