Former Chancellor Sean O’Keefe is leaving the world of academia for General Electric Aviation’s Washington D.C. operations beginning June 2. Rick Kennedy, GE media relations manager, said he could not disclose O’Keefe’s future salary. Kennedy said GE representatives and O’Keefe have been speaking for several months, but he could not say who approached the other about the position. O’Keefe resigned Jan. 16 as the University’s chancellor amid pressure from LSU System President John Lombardi and the Board of Supervisors. He relinquished his duties Feb. 1 to now-acting Chancellor William Jenkins. “Public service is something I spent most of my life doing,” O’Keefe told The Daily Reveille during a Jan. 30 interview. “There are a number of opportunities I want to look at, and they might be a little bit different field than that.” O’Keefe has served four times as a presidential appointee, most recently at the direction of President Bush in 2001 as the 10th administrator of NASA. O’Keefe resigned from NASA in December 2004 and was hired as the University’s chancellor in January 2005. O’Keefe will remain at the University for the remainder of the spring semester as a professor of public administration in the E.J. Ourso College of Business. GE Aviation, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, provides “commercial and military jet engines and components as well as integrated digital, electric power and mechanical systems for aircraft,” according to a news release. O’Keefe’s predecessor at GE, Tom Cooper, is retiring from the job after 21 years. “Sean [O’Keefe] brings a wealth of experience involving complex public policy issues as well as advanced technology,” said Scott Donnelly, President and CEO of GE Aviation, in a news release. “He takes over the helm of our Washington office at a very dynamic period in the aviation industry.”
—-Contact Nicholas Persac at [email protected]