Goodrich Corp. chief executive officer David L. Burner will step aside in April and allow his top lieutenant to run the aerospace company’s day-to-day operations. Marshall O. Larsen, 54, will become CEO in April. Burner will retain the title of chairman until retiring in 2004, when he reaches the company’s mandatory retirement age of 65. Larsen has been president and chief operating officer since February. The board of directors plans to make Larsen the board chairman in October, Goodrich said. Larsen, who joined the company as an operations analyst and financial manager in 1977, will lead one of the world’s largest aerospace companies as it struggles along with the rest of the industry after a downturn in air travel. In October, Goodrich said it expected profit this year to lag 5 percent to 10 percent below 2002 levels, as demand dropped for business and commercial aircraft parts. The company’s stock price fell 29 percent last year as it slashed 3,200 jobs worldwide.
