Boeing has had a really rough year with the grounding of the 737 MAX globally following two fatal crashes. That was bad enough, but all the scandals that have emerged following this have left a lot of us in shock regarding the culture of what was once a very respected company.
One surprising thing has been the lack of senior management changes in the past several months. Well, it looks like that’s finally happening.
It has today been announced that Kevin McAllister is stepping down from his role as President and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. He’s being replaced by Stan Deal effective immediately. Deal joined Boeing in 1986, and was previously President and CEO of Boeing Global Services.
This decision comes just a day after Boeing’s board had a meeting.
Boeing President and CEO Dennis Muilenburg said the following:
“Our entire Boeing team is focused on operational excellence, aligned with our values of safety, quality and integrity, and we’re committed to delivering on our commitments and regaining trust with our regulators, customers and other stakeholders.
Stan brings extensive operational experience at Commercial Airplanes and trusted relationships with our airline customers and industry partners; and Ted brings to our Global Services business an enterprise approach to customers and strong digital business expertise — a key component of our long-term growth plans.”
McAllister had the following to say regarding this departure from the company:
“Boeing is a great company with a commitment to safety I have seen firsthand working side-by-side with many thousands of tremendously talented and dedicated employees. It has been an honor to serve with such a professional team for the past three years.”
Bottom Line
I’ve been amazed by how few senior executives at Boeing have been fired up until this point. On some level it’s not even about whether they’re directly at fault for this mess (even though there are a lot of questions about Boeing’s corporate culture at this point), but rather about the amount of public trust that has been lost in the company, which seems almost irreparable at this point.
We’ve seen the 737 MAX issue only get worse and worse, and it’s clear some serious leadership changes are needed. Frankly I’m surprised Muilenburg is still in his role (update: he ended up being fired a couple of months later).
Are you surprised by how few senior management changes we’ve seen at Boeing?
Membership is free and takes no more information than commenting as a guest. Earn status points for good contributions, and see fewer ads as your status grows.