NEW YORK - Losing one of his three titles would no doubt rankle a bit with Dennis Muilenburg, Boeing’s chairman, president and chief executive. The $212 billion aerospace giant is facing calls that could strip him of the first at next week’s annual meeting. The company is recommending against the move, but in fact it’s a chance to get ahead on the issue.

That’s something Boeing and Muilenburg failed to do after an Ethiopian Airlines jet crashed in March – the second disaster in a few months for the company’s new 737 MAX model. The tragedy resulted in the grounding of the worldwide fleet and an 11 percent share-price slump. It took the company weeks to grasp the extent of its credibility and trust problem.

No wonder proxy advisers including Glass Lewis, Institutional Shareholder Services and Pensions & Investment Research Consultants have suggested investors should support splitting the CEO and chairman roles at Boeing.

U.S. companies have been slow to accept there are two jobs at the top of any large company: simplistically, one to run it and one to provide oversight and keep investors, regulators and the like informed and on side. Boeing's sluggish and arguably tin-eared initial response to the 737 MAX crashes underscores the value a chairman with his or her antennae better tuned to the outside world could have added.

Half the companies in the S&P 500 Index now split the top two roles, according to recruiter Spencer Stuart, up from 39 percent a decade ago. Over 30 percent have an officially independent chairman, as a shareholder proposal is suggesting for Boeing – nearly double the proportion in 2008.

It’s a pity separating the two roles is still seen in many U.S. companies as a sign of incomplete confidence in the CEO – it shouldn’t be. Yet Boeing’s nearly $30 billion of lost market value should be a black mark against any chief executive. That gives the board plenty of reason to take a stand for good governance.

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CONTEXT NEWS

- Pensions & Investment Research Consultants, which advises pension schemes and other investors, recommended on April 23 that investors in Boeing oppose the re-election of Dennis Muilenburg as chairman and chief executive.

- "There should be a clear division of responsibilities at the head of the company between the running of the board and the executive responsibility for the running of the company's business," PIRC said.

- Proxy advisers Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services last week also recommended that investors vote in favor of a shareholder proposal that would require the company to have an independent chairman separate from the CEO. The board has recommended voting against this proposal at the company’s annual meeting, set for April 29, saying it should have flexibility and citing the existing role of lead director.

- Fifty percent of S&P 500 Index companies have a separate chair and CEO, according to recruiter Spencer Stuart’s 2018 U.S. Board Index, up from 39 percent a decade earlier. Over 30 percent of the companies have independent chairs, up from 16 percent in 2008.

- Boeing is due to report first-quarter earnings on April 24. Its stock has fallen 11 percent since the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines jet in March, which led to the worldwide grounding of the fleet of 737 MAX aircraft.

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(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.)

(Editing by Tom Buerkle and Martin Langfield) ((richard.beales@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: richard.beales.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))