Cote Snares Honeywell Post

Honeywell directors have selected David Cote as the company's new president and CEO, and successor-designate to chairman Lawrence Bossidy. Cote was previously chairman, president and CEO of TRW-which became the subject of an unsolicited takeover attempt by Northrop Grumman days after Cote's surprise departure.

Cote, 49, comes to Honeywell after two turbulent years in the company's history. After the merger between Honeywell and AlliedSignal failed to produce the results Wall Street expected, Honeywell negotiated its acquisition by United Technologies in late 2000. Just before the deal was to be disclosed, General Electric chairman Jack Welch made an unexpected, cash-rich counter-offer and United Technologies was left standing at the altar-but the Welch deal was in turn torpedoed by European regulators. Honeywell CEO Michael Bonsignore resigned and former CEO Bossidy returned as an interim leader. Bossidy will now remain chairman until June 30.

Cote is expected to pursue the independent track that Bossidy has planned for Honeywell, building on the company's established avionics, engines, systems and non-aerospace businesses.

Like Bossidy, Cote is a former GE executive. He spent 25 years with Aircraft Engines and other GE units before leaving in November 1999 to take over TRW, and is a dedicated apostle of GE's "six-sigma" quality improvement process. Cote "understands many of the same core processes for people, strategy and operations we both learned at GE," Bossidy says.