Reshuffling Atop Boeing Satellite.

Two top executives at El Segundo-based Boeing Satellite Systems have resigned in the first major shakeup since Boeing Co. acquired the commercial satellite maker in October.

Seattle-based Boeing said that Tig H. Krekel, president of the unit, and Joseph H. DeSarla, executive vice president, announced their intention to leave the company to pursue other opportunities.

Boeing, which tends to install its own managers after acquisitions, bought the former Hughes Space & Communications Co. from Hughes Electronics Corp. for $3.75 billion five months ago and renamed it Boeing Satellite Systems.

The company employs more than 8,000 workers in El Segundo and is the world's largest maker of commercial satellites.

Randy Brinkley, senior vice president of programs for Boeing Satellite Systems, was appointed acting president as the company begins the search for a permanent replacement. Brinkley was program director for the space station at NASA until several years ago.

The move comes after one of the best years for the satellite unit, which had record deliveries last year and garnered a contract worth up to $1.3 billion to provide communications satellites for the Air Force.

Krekel, 47, was appointed president in January 1999 after a stint as president of AlliedSignal Inc.'s aerospace equipment business in Torrance. DeSarla, 55, was the unit's No. 2 executive and had been named to the post just before the business was acquired by Boeing.