In March 2024, Boeing announced how the company’s CEO and Board Chair would both be stepping down, given what a complete mess the company has been. After an exhaustive search lasting several months, Boeing has just announced who has been picked as the new CEO.
Continue reading: Boeing Appoints Outsider Kelly Ortberg As New CEO
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
I wish him the best of luck, but there is a lot more deadwood in the C-Suite that needs to follow Calhoun out the door before things can begin to improve.
What a mess. Calhoun at the Senate meeting was hilariously sad. Poor guy, do not know how he sleeps at night..... oh I guess he simply dreams in his $30,000,000USD + a year salary.
All I know about him is that Rockwell Collins is one of the best companies I've ever worked with. As a supplier to the industry they always treated me with transparency and respect. The culture there was excellent down to employees on the line.
However, instituting that type of change at Boeing is a heavy lift. There needs to be some major housecleaning before significant progress can be made.
This is a coup for Boeing and a very positive sign that the company will turn things around which is exactly what the US and world needs.
Although he was retired from RTX, let's not forget that the Pratt and Whitney Geared Turbofan, which is suffering from major issues, is a product of RTX Corp.
While I think it's a good thing that the new CEO has an engineering background I am highly skeptical that it will produce the dramatic shift in culture that is needed at Boeing. There is a huge emphasis on maximizing shareholder return above all else in Corporate America and CEO pay is typically tied to the stock price. So long as that remains the primary goal Boeing doesn't have the incentive to make decisions that produce long term value. As Charlie Munger famously said, "Show me the incentive, and I will show you the outcome." While I hope I am wrong on this I can't help but think that appointing an engineer is a performative gesture.
Is Geared Turbofan engine issue a design flaw or a symptom of bad management and lack of care at P&W?
@UncleRonnie - having been a customer of both Boeing and PW in recent years, I assure you that the apathy at PW is in a whole different league. At least Boeing pretends to still care.
This was exactly my first thought!
I worked for many years for a company that transitioned from being run by knowledgeable and experienced engineers who understood the business to being run by financial types focused on its stock price (like Boeing). The company's accomplishments, reputation, and morale declined dramatically. It was sad to watch.
We'll know if they are serious about returning to their engineering/innovation roots if they move the HQ back to Seattle. Staying Arlington, VA, means they will be repeating the old cultural issues that got them into this mess.
According to the Seattle Times, Ortberg will be based in Seattle. Not an official HQ move yet, but an encouraging sign!
Not to mention the golden parachute he's supposedly getting, despite his tenure being less-than-worthless.
Man, to be able to fail upwards, like these cats do!
Keep in mind that Muilenburg was also an engineer... so that, in itself, doesn't really solve anything.
We need to see to what level he prioritizes engineering, vis-a-vis finance.
Forget the C-Suite, Boeing's entire board needs to be flushed out.
I cannot understand how the shareholders tolerate anyone from the McNerney, Muilenburg, and Calhoun eras...
...the first one came up with MAX concept and executed it criminally (why's he not in jail?);
...the second handled the crashes so terribly and destroyed the company's brand reputation; and
...the latter's only accomplishment, was ceding the entire mid-market to Airbus for at least the next decade and a half. Toulouse should send him a fruit basket.
Larry Kellner was the Board's sacrificial lamb, but there needs to be a complete housecleaning of the do-nothings who facilitated that era, as the company has lost more than TWICE the money it would've spent (by its own estimations) on a clean-sheet 737/757 replacement!
My hope for this guy, is that he starts to present a VERY clear vision for the replacement of the 737.... and for raising quality of current production.
Yep, confirmed:
Boeing has not confirmed nor denied speculation that an HQ repatriation will follow.... so this could get interesting.
I did work with Rockwell Collins for some time. What was frustrating to me at that time (coming from a commercial background where we rushed things to the market hoping version 3.0 would be credible!) was the utter process oriented, document intensive anal culture of Rockwell Collins then. I recall a Collin’s engineer telling me disapprovingly (of our commercial culture) that in their world their products don’t crash!
If Kelly can recreate the culture of Rockwell Collins at Boeing we would once again have a great company on our hands. It’s clear given Kelly’s age and the monumental size of the problem at Boeing even if Kelly is successful the rewards will likely go to the management team that follows him. Wish him all the best!