that would have separated the CEO and board chairman roles at Boeing did not pass at the aerospace manufacturer's annual shareholder meeting on Monday.
Only 34% of voters supported the proposal, the company announced at the meeting, which was held in Chicago. The proposal argued that an independent chairman would be better suited to helping the board develop long-term strategy while allowing CEO Dennis Muilenburg to focus on immediate concerns, including the backlash to crashes involving Boeing's 737 Max aircraft and expenses involved in the development of the KC-46 Air Force tanker aircraft.
"An independent Chairman is best positioned to build up the strategic planning capabilities of our directors while our CEO addresses the challenging day-to-day issues facing the company," Boeing's 2019 proxy statement says."The roles of Chairman and CEO are fundamentally different and should be held by 2 directors, a CEO and a Chairman who is completely independent of the CEO and our company.