In March 2024, Boeing’s President and CEO, Dave Calhoun, announced his decision to step down at the end of 2024. Calhoun was appointed to the job in late 2019 and took charge in 2020 after Boeing let go of its previous CEO, Dennis Muilenburg, for his handling of the aftermath of two deadly 737 Max crashes. Dave Calhoun would stay on until the end of the year or until a new CEO was found. Boeing has now found its new CEO.

Boeing appoints Robert “Kelly” Ortberg as its new CEO

Boeing today announced that its Board of Directors has elected Robert “Kelly” Ortberg as the company’s new president and chief executive officer, effective August 8, 2024. Ortberg will also serve on the Board of Directors. Kelly will succeed Dave Calhoun, who earlier this year announced his intention to retire from the company, having served as president and CEO since January 2020, and as a member of Boeing’s Board of Directors since 2009.

Ortberg, 64, brings over 35 years of aerospace leadership to his role. He began his career as an engineer at Texas Instruments and then joined Rockwell Collins, the aerospace company, in 1987 as a program manager. From there on, he became its president and CEO in 2013. After five years leading Rockwell Collins, he steered the company’s integration with United Technologies and RTX until he retired from RTX in 2021.

Steven Mollenkopf, Chair of the Board of Boeing, said this on the occasion,

The Board conducted a thorough and extensive search process over the last several months to select the next CEO of Boeing and Kelly has the right skills and experience to lead Boeing in its next chapter. Kelly is an experienced leader who is deeply respected in the aerospace industry, with a well-earned reputation for building strong teams and running complex engineering and manufacturing companies. We look forward to working with him as he leads Boeing through this consequential period in its long history.

The Board would also like to thank Dave Calhoun for his strong leadership at Boeing, first as Chair and then as CEO, when he stepped in to steer the company through the challenges of recent years.

Ortberg had this to say about his appointment,

I’m extremely honored and humbled to join this iconic company. Boeing has a tremendous and rich history as a leader and pioneer in our industry, and I’m committed to working together with the more than 170,000 dedicated employees of the company to continue that tradition, with safety and quality at the forefront. There is much work to be done, and I’m looking forward to getting started.

The Air Current was the first to report about Kelly’s consideration for the top job at Boeing, apart from Patrick Shanahan and Stephanie Pope, who were also being considered as per the report. Shanahan is the CEO of Spirit AeroSystems, a leading supplier of aerostructures to Boeing and a company that was spun off from Boeing a couple of decades ago (and is now being bought by Boeing again). Stephanie Pope was recently appointed to lead Boeing Commercial Aircraft after Stan Deal.

Boeing now has an outsider and an engineer at the company’s helm in Kelly. Boeing has recently been faulted for not having an engineer drive its vision. As an outsider, he should be able to drive change rather than be influenced by the ways of Boeing.

Remember, Boeing has many divisions beyond Commercial Aircraft, which is the most visible one. Defence, Space and Global Services are the other divisions at Boeing.

Bottomline

After a search lasting several months, Boeing has appointed Robert “Kelly” Ortberg as the new CEO. Kelly comes from Rockwell Collins, where he was the CEO and drove the merger between Rockwell Collins and UTC Aerospace Systems. Kelly is an engineer and has decades of experience in aerospace.

What do you think of Boeing’s new CEO appointment?

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