A time for optimism?

Chief Executive, The, August-Sept, 2005

George David, chief executive of United Technologies, told attendees at the CEO of Year dinner being held in his honor that the worst of the corporate scandals are over and that continued globalization and productivity gains will yield rich profits. "It's a time for big optimism," David told his audience of 200 at the New York Stock Exchange. "I feel great about our economy, I feel great about the world's economies, I feel great about productivity, and the opportunity to lower cost, increase margins, make more profitability, have more shareholder value creation and do more things for employees."

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The Securities & Exchange Commission has sharply increased its enforcement actions in recent years and several CEOs have gone to jail, but the climate is now shifting, David noted. "I could live to regret these words, but I believe that that is all past us," he said. "There's harmonic motion in life. What goes up, comes down. What goes down, comes up. I think we are past the peak of all this bad news. The system will self-correct."

David, 63, was honored for a remarkable 10-year performance at UTC beginning in 1994 when he became CEO. The company includes Otis, Carrier, Sikorsky, Pratt & Whitney, Hamilton Sundstrand and other units. "George has built United Technologies into a $40 billion enterprise, but I think one of the great statistics about his tenure is over the last decade the shareholder value has increased by about 1,000 percent," said NYSE Chief Executive John Thain, who co-hosted the June 23 dinner with Chief Executive magazine.

David is the 20th leader to receive the honor of being named CEO of the Year. "This ends up as an award for an individual, but, in fact, it is an award for a company," David said. "I want to very much thank all the people of UTC who have made this award possible."

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