Former Hillary Clinton adviser Declan Kelly has been quietly serving to troubled producer Boeing as the corporate faces a slew of security considerations, The Put up has realized.
Kelly — who resigned from his consulting firm Teneo in 2021, after accusations of inappropriately touching six employees at a charity event — had been advising former Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun on his communications technique for the final two years, sources instructed The Put up.
Now Kelly is working with the Boeing board of administrators to seek out Calhoun’s substitute.
Sources stated they’re baffled by that call.
“The numerous main points Boeing skilled since 2020 on Calhoun’s watch pressured him to resign efficient on the finish of 2024,” one Boeing insider instructed The Put up. “That the one who helped him in that function would assist discover his successor is insanity.”
“Boeing already has belief points — individuals are afraid to get on Boeing planes,” stated one other supply who has recognized and labored with Kelly for years. “It’s the worst factor they might do.”
Kelly’s former shopper, Basic Electrical CEO Larry Culp, launched him to Calhoun early within the latter’s tenure as CEO, a supply with direct information instructed The Put up. The 2 started engaged on Calhoun’s communication technique.
Calhoun, who stepped down as CEO final month, did attempt to present transparency as CEO.
“We’ve a communications job with all of our prospects,” Calhoun stated earlier this yr, in an effort to acknowledge Boeing’s missteps. “We’re going to strategy this, No. 1, acknowledging our mistake. We’re going to strategy it with 100% and full transparency each step of the way in which.”
However that technique wasn’t sufficient to salvage Calhoun’s rocky tenure — significantly after a door panel blew off a Boeing aircraft, forcing an emergency touchdown, on an Alaska Airways flight from Portland, Ore., to Ontario, Calif., in January.
Individuals near Boeing say it’s unusual that Kelly would stick round after Calhoun was ousted. However they word the choice occurred across the similar time that Kelly’s longtime shopper Steve Mollenkopf — who had served on Boeing’s board since 2020 — was appointed because the board’s chair.
Mollenkopf, the previous CEO of Qualcomm, can also be a particular adviser at Kelly’s new consulting agency, Consello.
Boeing, Consello, Kelly and representatives for Culp didn’t reply to requests for remark.
Kelly is Irish and had moved to the US in 2001 after a profession as a journalist and PR government in his native nation.
In 2007, Kelly joined Hillary Clinton’s presidential marketing campaign as an adviser and have become a trusted counselor to each the candidate and her husband, former President Invoice Clinton.
After Hillary Clinton misplaced and have become secretary of state below President Barack Obama, she appointed Kelly as financial envoy to Northern Eire in 2009.
Round this time, he additionally created a brand new consulting agency that may later change into Teneo — based in 2011 with Doug Band, Invoice Clinton’s former physique man-turned-gatekeeper.
The consulting agency suggested C-suite executives on technique and communication, and Kelly and Band’s deep political ties helped them nab Invoice Clinton and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair for its advisory board — which, in flip, helped usher in huge charges for consulting providers and shoppers together with Basic Motors, Coca-Cola and Dell.
The Post previously reported how Kelly was capable of prepare conferences with the Clintons and even acquired certainly one of his shoppers, Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveris, onstage with Obama 13 occasions in a single yr.
Invoice Clinton stepped down from the function in 2012 after dealing with scrutiny and the Clintons have since reduce ties with Kelly.
After he was accused of sexual misconduct at a VIP fundraiser World Citizen occasion in Might 2021 and left Teneo, Kelly’s future as an adviser to blue-chip firms gave the impression to be in jeopardy.
The 56-year-old acknowledged the incident as an “inadvertent, public and embarrassing mistake” and added he “apologized to these immediately affected, in addition to [to] my colleagues and shoppers.”
Months later, he launched Consello and managed to sign Tom Brady and Serena Williams as companions.
Some say they aren’t shocked that Kelly managed to seek out his manner into Boeing.
“I don’t assume he is aware of about planes, however he is aware of about disasters,” one supply who has recognized Kelly for years instructed The Put up. “He’s an amazing salesman, although, so I can perceive how he acquired the job.”