Cessna and Bell parent company Textron has tapped company president and COO Scott Donnelly to replace retiring Lewis Campbell as CEO, effective December 1. Campbell has been with Textron for the past 17 years, including the last 11 as CEO, following a lengthy career in the auto industry. He presided over the company during business aviation’s period of greatest growth as well as its recent slide, during which Cessna
shelved its large-cabin Citation Columbus and
slashed payroll by half. He will remain with the company as non-executive chairman of the board for up to two years.

Donnelly joined Textron as COO last year, after 19 years at General Electric, serving most recently as president and CEO of its aviation unit. He was named Textron president last January. “Scott has quickly proved himself an extremely decisive leader with tremendous strategic vision and operating acuity,” said Campbell. “He led the effort that put the Textron liquidity strategy on a strong path and spearheaded restructuring initiatives and operating improvements in our manufacturing businesses during these recent challenging times.” Donnelly currently flies a Cessna 206 but told AIN last month that he is eying something a little bigger, a Caravan.