Bell’s chief commercial officer Danny Maldonado was named president and CEO of Bell, effective January 4, 2026. He will succeed Lisa Atherton, who was appointed president and CEO of Textron Inc. on the same date.

As CCO, Maldonado has been responsible for Bell’s global commercial aircraft sales, aftermarket solutions, the Bell Training Academy and new product development. Before this, he led Textron Financial Corp. as president and CEO for nine years and previously served as Bell’s executive vice president of sales and marketing. He joined Textron in 1990 and has since held leadership roles across sales, business development, customer support and finance.

Textron chairman and CEO Scott Donnelly says: “Danny is a proven leader with a long track record of success at Bell. He will lead Bell at an important time as we accelerate activity on the MV-75 programme and continue to invest in leading commercial helicopter programmes.”