Boeing’s reputation is probably at an all-time low, as we increasingly learn about the corners that the company has cut in order to maximize profits, at the cost of safety. Not only is Boeing’s reputation bad, but the company is also facing increased regulatory scrutiny over its production practices, to ensure that things improve.
It’s clear that something major needs to change at Boeing, so as part of that, the company has just announced a complete overhaul of its management team.
In this post:
Boeing CEO & Board Chair step down
Boeing has just revealed a series of management changes at the company. Boeing’s CEO, the Board Chair, and the CEO of the commercial airplanes division, will all be stepping down from their roles:
- Boeing CEO David Calhoun will step down at the end of 2024; he’ll continue working at the company until then, “to complete the critical work underway to stabilize and position the company for the future”
- Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Stan Deal will retire effective immediately, and will be replaced by Stephanie Pope; she has been Boeing’s Chief Operating Officer since January 2024, and prior to that, she was CEO of Boeing Global Services, offering aerospace services for commercial, government, and aviation industry customers
- Boeing Board Chair Larry Kellner (yes, the former Continental CEO/safety video guy) has informed the board that he does not intend to stand for re-election at the upcoming annual shareholder meeting
- Boeing’s Board has elected Steve Mollenkopf to succeed Kellner as Board Chair, and he’ll lead the effort to find a new CEO for the company
Here’s what current Boeing CEO David Calhoun had to say to employees about his plans to leave the company:
“It has been the greatest privilege of my life to serve Boeing. The eyes of the world are on us, and I know that we will come through this moment a better company. We will remain squarely focused on completing the work we have done together to return our company to stability after the extraordinary challenges of the past five years, with safety and quality at the forefront of everything that we do.”
Here’s what current Boeing Board Chair Larry Kellner had to say to employees about his plans to not seek re-election:
“Boeing plays an essential role in our world, and serving this company, and our people, has been a true honor. After over a decade on the board and several years as its chair, I have been considering the right time for a transition of leadership on our board, and have been discussing that subject with Dave and the board in conjunction with Dave’s own planning about his succession timeframe. I want to thank Dave for his tremendous leadership of our company, and I know he will finish the job this year that he started in 2020 to position Boeing, and our employees, for a stronger future. With Dave’s decision to step down as CEO at the end of this year, now is the right time for a transition to my successor. Steve is the ideal next leader to take on the role of board chair, and it is important that the CEO selection process be led by a new chair who will stay at the helm as a partner to the new CEO. With a strong board, an excellent management team and 170,000 dedicated Boeing employees, I am fully confident in our company’s future.”
This is a step in the right direction for Boeing
I don’t think anyone is surprised to see a complete shakeup of management at Boeing, given the situation the company is in. This is a great first step, but the real test will be seeing if there’s actually a culture change at Boeing.
The problems at Boeing go way beyond the current CEO and Board Chair. By all accounts, Boeing’s focus on profits over safety has gotten progressively worse over decades, rather than just over a few years. I think replacing the current management team was necessary, but it’s not the solution in and of itself.
Part of the problem is that publicly traded companies in the United States are so focused on short term stock price rather than looking at the long term. The way that senior executives act understandably reflects their incentives, which often aren’t aligned with a company’s long term goals. A turnaround at Boeing will require a lot of effort, so good luck to the new management team.
Bottom line
Boeing’s CEO, Boeing’s Board Chair, and Boeing’s CEO of Commercial Airplanes, are all stepping down from their roles. This is a drastic but necessary development, given the situation Boeing is in. Here’s to hoping that the new people in charge are actually committed to making changes, rather than just doing the same old thing…
What do you make of the changes to Boeing’s leadership team?
Finally!
Just two thoughts come to mind
1. Reshuffling of the deck chairs on the Titanic
2. Golden parachutes.
My travel is either in an Airbus or a Tesla............
Definitely, both of them think human in control are retards.
One of them verbally reminds you everytime the trip is almost complete.
The other reminds you through their overlord on X.
99% of the car accidents are human errors. So yeah do not put humans in driver's seat
Look, get rid of all upper management and go back to the good days of Boeing when the phrase was 'I ain't going if it's not Boeing' rather than, 'if it's Boeing, I ain't going' This is what happens when you replace engineers with money hungry business personnel; McDonnell using Boeing money to buy Boeing.
Finally. This is barely a start. He spent years failing to do what he was hired to do. Why will he magically be successful by the end of the year?
It's wild to think he'll have been CEO for a half-decade by the time he departs. It honestly feels like they just put him in to replace Muilenburg the other day!
With that said, I agree that it also feels like he's accomplished absolutely nothing within that time. In fact, Boeing seems like it's worse off now than it was in 2019, covid not withstanding.
Any foreigner who keeps criticizing Boeing and American practices. I would ban you from coming to America if you hate us so much. We need our allies to stop attacking America just to make Europeans feel better.
This wins most idiotic comment of the thread, award.
And that's the problem today. We shut out those whom we disagree with. We have to (re)start talking to each other and understanding why we feel the way we do and just maybe we can return to a better place.
Sometimes we do unfairly. But it IS fair to call a ridiculously silly comment out for what it is...
Airbus can take one look at its sales, compared to Boeing over the last few years, and I'm sure it's feeling just fine. No "attacks" needed.
This is as meaningful to Calhoun as firing a college football coach. Pay keeps coming for not doing a job you did poorly. Wow, what a concept. How does a board accept this behavior being rewarded? Oh,sorry, they are all on each others boards. Classic fox guarding the hen house. Where is the SEC?
Long overdue but dont understand why Stan Deal was forced out.
Ahhh the nice words used in Corporate America. Step down is the nice way to say they were fired. They are incompetent and will be replaced. Simply that.
Except that they weren't. :(
Some of them are still staying-on through the rest of the year, and most (if not all) will walk away with boatloads of money, plus all of their expectant benefits.
That’s what being fired at this level means. They did not decide to quit by themselves. BTW, that is what is wrong in Corporate America. If you get that high in your career, you can be incompetent and still make a lot of money. Why? Because it is not the case owner’s money. It is the shareholders’ money.
I mean, you can double-down on an erroneous claim, but repetition won't make it true.
There most certainly *is* actual firing at that level..... and this ain't it.
I hope this is more than window dressing. The world needs at least two vital, competitive aircraft manufacturers to supply the demand for new aircraft. Airbus alone doesn't have enough capacity to fill all the outstanding orders.
"Funnily" enough, Boeing's board has rejected proposal to move headquarters back to Seattle, citing potential impact on day-to-day management roughly a month ago. One of the shareholders put forward this proposal, expressing lack of faith in current set-up and blaming decline on headquarters' relocation to Chicago...
Impact on a day-to-day management.. how ironic... Maybe they were meaning mismanagement...
The most challenging part is the time it would take even the most well-meaning management...
"Funnily" enough, Boeing's board has rejected proposal to move headquarters back to Seattle, citing potential impact on day-to-day management roughly a month ago. One of the shareholders put forward this proposal, expressing lack of faith in current set-up and blaming decline on headquarters' relocation to Chicago...
Impact on a day-to-day management.. how ironic... Maybe they were meaning mismanagement...
The most challenging part is the time it would take even the most well-meaning management to put the company on the right track.
In any case, Airbus needs a real scale competitor in order to avoid being complacent
On one hand I agree that moving the HQ from Seattle was a backslap to its heritage, but the rationale was understandable - it's a multi faced corporation with other military and aerospace companies in many different locations. The Commercial company HQ was left in Seattle.
What's not been examined in greater detail, at least in these blogs, is the role of the subcontractors in the commercial production, and the lack of coordinated engineering...
On one hand I agree that moving the HQ from Seattle was a backslap to its heritage, but the rationale was understandable - it's a multi faced corporation with other military and aerospace companies in many different locations. The Commercial company HQ was left in Seattle.
What's not been examined in greater detail, at least in these blogs, is the role of the subcontractors in the commercial production, and the lack of coordinated engineering and quality control between Boeing and specific subcontractors.
Regardless, it's a mess that will take to clean up and prove itself fully trustworthy again! And let's hope that they're smarter than just some PR campaign...they must prove their capability on the production line and inflight...
**faceted
I am sure that idiots here complaining about DEI can rest assured when Boeing, once again, selects again a WHITE CEO to head the company further down the cliff. That wouldn't be DEI! HAHAH Boeing is not salvageable given the history of how the CEOs managing spread-sheets ruined this company and cared only about profits. Max is beyond redeemable. Avoid it at all cost. And Avoid Boeing.
Good news. Let's turn the page and hope for better days. A change was needed.
Has everyone forgotten Boeing also assassinated a whistleblower recently?
These executives stepping down also need to be investigated for any involvement.
Do you have proof ? You’re suggesting that Boeing management hired someone to kill him ? If it was Tupolev I could understand as it would be polonium or the executive fell out of a window.
Why is it so hard to believe that Boeing, one of the largest defense contractors from a country that’s been known to carry out regime change and skirt international law, ordered the killing of a whistleblower in a high profile case?
Here's a breakdown of the known facts:
1. Whistleblower Claims: Barnett raised concerns about safety lapses at Boeing and filed a formal complaint with the FAA in 2017.
2. Legal Action: He was pursuing a whistleblower protection case against Boeing, alleging retaliation for raising safety concerns.
3. Deposition: Barnett's death occurred while he was in Charleston for a deposition related to his case.
4. Family's Doubts: Barnett's family disputed the suicide ruling,...
Here's a breakdown of the known facts:
1. Whistleblower Claims: Barnett raised concerns about safety lapses at Boeing and filed a formal complaint with the FAA in 2017.
2. Legal Action: He was pursuing a whistleblower protection case against Boeing, alleging retaliation for raising safety concerns.
3. Deposition: Barnett's death occurred while he was in Charleston for a deposition related to his case.
4. Family's Doubts: Barnett's family disputed the suicide ruling, claiming he was in good spirits and expressed no suicidal thoughts. In one of this final conversations with a close family friend she testified that he told her: "If anything happens, it's not suicide"
Any reasonable person would agree this fact pattern points to foul play. The question now is, what evidence do you have that there wasn't?
These DEI hires ruined the company!
What a stupid and incorrect thing to say.
What really ruined the company was hiring and promoting finance people instead of engineers to senior management to run the company.
Presumably this was a joke, given that the company has only ever been run by white males.
Yes. This was a joke and some of you got it. Thank you
Fairly certain that the whole point of that post was to highlight the fact that everyone involved in Boeing's ruinous decision-making, was a wealthy White male.
And that DEI critics are ignoring an actual corporate downfall caused by non-minorities and non-women, while blaming DEI for imaginary corporate downfalls that haven't actually even taken place.
it all started with the merger of McDonnell Douglas with Boeing decades ago, where the team MD. won the highest positions in the company and started to get more interested in the profits than making safe planes.
Greed is (not always) Good,
Yet it's all middle aged white men at the top. Where these decisions were actually made.
But we all know you're just a limp little troll.
What an amazingly stupid thing to say. Crawl back to your cave.
The outgoing CEOs made millions and will also have a generous exit package.
If only i could fail upwards like this with a bunch of money to retire.
If the new ceo is not a woman of color I will never fly on a boeing plane again
Why stop there? I'm sure there's a high bridge near you, somewhere....
@Jackson Go away, jerk.
I hear Claudine Gay is available.
Dumb, sexist, racist comment. The next CEO needs to be the best person for the job. End of story.
They need to clear out the the bean counter awfulness of McDonnell Douglas that took-over the company in what was meant to be Boeing acquiring McDonnell Douglas. Boeing effectively paid to be acquired itself and its been downhill since then. Like imagine allowing the people who destroyed their own business to the point you had to rescue them to take over your won business?? How do you think that would have ended??
Nothing changes.
Its just new bean counters replacing old bean counters. What was required was a systemic change to focus on engineering excellence and not just bean counting. Stephanie Pope is yet another bean counter from the McDonnell Douglas stable. So the face changes but the mentality remains the same, the very same mentality that had brought Boeing down.
And this CEO is not leaving today. He will be around for another 9 months.
...Nothing changes.
Its just new bean counters replacing old bean counters. What was required was a systemic change to focus on engineering excellence and not just bean counting. Stephanie Pope is yet another bean counter from the McDonnell Douglas stable. So the face changes but the mentality remains the same, the very same mentality that had brought Boeing down.
And this CEO is not leaving today. He will be around for another 9 months.
So nothing changes. This just to pacify the press coverage and than keep doing what has led to Boeing's downfall.
What they need is to get Alan Mulally out of retirement and bring Alan back to turn the ship around. The day Boeing starting to go downhill is the day they didn’t promote Alan and then have Alan left Boeing to become CEO of Ford. Similar to what Intel is doing to with Pat Galsinger, brining back some old school Boeing (pre-McDonald Douglas) back into the senior management will probably help.
That's exactly what I said in the comments here back in 2020 when they appointed Calhoun. Boeing should have not skipped over Mulally. He played a major role on Boeing's last great plane, the 777. Then he went on to turnaround Ford while the other big 3 needed a bailout.
Seeing what unfolded since Calhoun, Boeing needs Mulally now more than ever. Too bad he's probably not coming out of retirement.
Agree hugely with Peter and Eskimo.
Mulally was a talent...
just a thought about these executives who are dismissed.
I wonder what their Golden Parachutes will be for each?
Too bad there's no "Claw Back" feature!!
Probably 500 billion per person, or something like that. LOL
As mentioned by others, Boeing's problems took off when they moved business people into leadership roles previously occupied by engineers. I recently finished Joe Sutter's fantastic memoir, "747: Creating the World's First Jumbo Jet and Other Adventures from a Life in Aviation." Joe Sutter was the lead design engineer on the 747, after having worked on the 727 and 737. He stayed on as a senior Boeing exec through the early 2000s. (Because of his...
As mentioned by others, Boeing's problems took off when they moved business people into leadership roles previously occupied by engineers. I recently finished Joe Sutter's fantastic memoir, "747: Creating the World's First Jumbo Jet and Other Adventures from a Life in Aviation." Joe Sutter was the lead design engineer on the 747, after having worked on the 727 and 737. He stayed on as a senior Boeing exec through the early 2000s. (Because of his engineering expertise he also served on the Presidential Commission investigating the Challenger space shuttle disaster.)
One constant theme in his memoir was Boeing's commitment to safety and engineering. As I listened to the book I kept thinking to myself that the corporate culture he described from the 50s through roughly the 90s, of engineering excellence that was the class of the world, is no longer present at the company.
Finally, someone smart! Instead of these idiot jackasses suddenly on here blaming DEI for all of this.
Julia, as I mentioned above, my comment was indeed a joke. Obviously incompetent white dudes ran the company to its current existence. But you and I both know that some idiot is going to blame DEI in Boeing’s downfall.
If it's Boeing, I'm not going.
The markets have not reacted very significantly to this announcement.
The share has not dropped but not rocketed either. The message seems to be:"It's a move in the right direction but more needs to be done".
Let's see if they can find a CEO that can both satisfy shareholders and insufflate a durable and positive culture change in the company.
Hopefully the markets have now understood their expectations of Boeing's returns were bloated.
...The markets have not reacted very significantly to this announcement.
The share has not dropped but not rocketed either. The message seems to be:"It's a move in the right direction but more needs to be done".
Let's see if they can find a CEO that can both satisfy shareholders and insufflate a durable and positive culture change in the company.
Hopefully the markets have now understood their expectations of Boeing's returns were bloated.
Share price is now low, it's an opportunity for the market to express a reasonable expectation on returns and give room to management to implement a healthy strategy.
As alluded to in the comments, way too many MBAs and not enough engineers running the show at Boeing. As example:
- B777-9 is still floundering. By the time it is implemented, a clean sheet design could have been released
- Dropped the ball on the USAF B767 tanker, repeatedly delays with subsequent issues
- Outsourcing in the name of dividends via Spirit Aerospace; now its come around and bit them on...
As alluded to in the comments, way too many MBAs and not enough engineers running the show at Boeing. As example:
- B777-9 is still floundering. By the time it is implemented, a clean sheet design could have been released
- Dropped the ball on the USAF B767 tanker, repeatedly delays with subsequent issues
- Outsourcing in the name of dividends via Spirit Aerospace; now its come around and bit them on the arse
- B787 had multiple of production and quality issues due to outsourcing of parts and moving production from Seattle to save on labor
- MAX program has been a lost cause from the word "go"
- lack of a fresh, clean sheet design since B787 which was released 13 yrs ago.
I'm very much opposed to government intervention (think Biden and EVs). However, it would be a crime if Uncle Sam fails to read the Riot Act to Boeing senior leadership.
Speaking of crime, why has no one senior from Boeing gone to jail over the 737MAX? This is considering that they purposefully and intentionally withheld information on MCAS's existence and function to regulators, during certification.
Is it really an "overhaul" of leadership when they're just pulling other insiders?
They'll hire more C-suiters that are yes-men to goosing the share price at any cost (human lives, airframe groundings, etc.).
1. Boeing will be sold at a fire-sale price...
2. OR they'll take their medicine, invest a LOT of money, and emerge a more solid company that actually focuses on quality and safety.
Smart money is on #1.
Space X should buy Boeing. Well run company that builds reliable products.
"Part of the problem is that publicly traded companies in the United States are so focused on short term stock price rather than looking at the long term."
This has been obvious for a number of years. Boeing will now become a business school case study, such as GE under Jack Welch. However, as long as boards are beholden to stockholders of significant numbers of shares (private entities, mutual funds, public pensions) rather than the...
"Part of the problem is that publicly traded companies in the United States are so focused on short term stock price rather than looking at the long term."
This has been obvious for a number of years. Boeing will now become a business school case study, such as GE under Jack Welch. However, as long as boards are beholden to stockholders of significant numbers of shares (private entities, mutual funds, public pensions) rather than the health of the company this will continue to happen. One would hope that whenever management wants to ramp up production with fewer employees the board would really act appropriately and grill the decision makers as to the long term effects of those decisions.
Maybe actually ask individual stockholders (boards to have access to addresses)? I'll be Pollyanna and say make them watch The Solid Gold Cadillac.
Agreed, which definitely shouldn't be a surprise, considering that Boeing's downfall became a freefall under Harry Stonecipher + Jim McNerney..... both of whom were previous acolytes of Jack Welch, working directly under him.
Unless the next CEO is steeped in engineering and moves HQ back to Everett it’s basically a PR exercise
This is definitely needed.
Calhoun has all the vision of a blind man, and has accomplished (check notes) jack squat, after being thrust into that position by the board to show "See? We got rid of the last CEO who clearly didn't know what he was doing either!?"
Someone who gives a crap about the future of the company, beyond seemingly the next quarterly report.
I said so jokingly in a previous post, but...
This is definitely needed.
Calhoun has all the vision of a blind man, and has accomplished (check notes) jack squat, after being thrust into that position by the board to show "See? We got rid of the last CEO who clearly didn't know what he was doing either!?"
Someone who gives a crap about the future of the company, beyond seemingly the next quarterly report.
I said so jokingly in a previous post, but the more I think about it, the more (maybe) his militaristic management style might make sense at Boeing......... go get Al Baker.
Al-Baker's management style would never fly in the USA. He'd be out in a month, on a hostile environment or harassment charge.
Well, we all know how Al Baker has no love lost with Airbus, so maybe he'd be good at Boeing :P
Agree with ImmortalSynn though, no way he would function in the USA. He doesn't seem to embody the spirit of political correctness that's required at a US corporation.
Boeing will be acquired by Northrop Grumman or Lockheed Martin. It's only a matter of time.
Northrup or Lockheed will only buy the defense and the space. They will not touch the commercial side. The Commercial side could be bought by Elon Musk
The defense side is not in any danger.
And Elon Musk is quite possibly the one person on Earth who could make Boeing Commercial more screwed up than it already is.
.....I can see it now: the CyberMAX, powered by pilot neuro-link. :(
He will immediately do away with the flight controls and insist all flying been done through a single touch screen set between the pilot and copilot.
Not a chance. That would never get regulatory approval.
When you see the 737 Max crisis that they still have 2 uncertified Max and the 777-9 that was presented in 2013 still uncertified you have a BIG problem.
Aside from Steve Mollenkopf, not another engineer on Boeing's board. Nothing but bean counters and lawyers. Commercial aviation should be split off from the cost-plus DOD business and have the HQ moved back to Seattle.
The rot at Boeing is typical of the US as a whole. Everything financialized, outsourced and treating the workforce like dirt. Calhoun even canceled development of a new midsized airliner after the 737 max grounding. I wonder if that pig...
Aside from Steve Mollenkopf, not another engineer on Boeing's board. Nothing but bean counters and lawyers. Commercial aviation should be split off from the cost-plus DOD business and have the HQ moved back to Seattle.
The rot at Boeing is typical of the US as a whole. Everything financialized, outsourced and treating the workforce like dirt. Calhoun even canceled development of a new midsized airliner after the 737 max grounding. I wonder if that pig will get an $80M golden parachute like Muilenberg?
The management at Boeing shall be held accountable for what happened.
The CEO and the Board Chair is an okay start, but WAY more leadership heads need to roll. Way. More. The new CEO is likely to be just as bad given their background. This is lipstick on a pig, at best. But, at least I'm relishing the Schadenfreude I have watching the Boeing company destroy itself. I hope regulators absolutely crush Boeing.
US aerospace needs a complete overhaul. Let new entrants enter the airliner business.
There's nothing regulatory that's preventing new entrants from "entering" or doing anything else.
It's just the insane costs to develop, certify, manufacture, and market airliners, that's keeping other companies at bay.
It's the (criminal) circus that keeps on giving!
The new Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Stephanie Pope seems like a typical bean counter according to her bio on Boeing's website. Doesn't seem like they're completely returning to being engineer-led like many had hoped.
Are there any engineers left at Boeing to promote?
all very true, Ben.
The pressure on Boeing has been enormous amidst continual failures and the need to right the ship.
Everyone needs a strong Boeing but they have been getting weaker by the day.
The government has every reason to push to effect change and that begins today.
In an industry like aviation, don't underestimate the ability of the government to push for change and to ensure that the US remains...
all very true, Ben.
The pressure on Boeing has been enormous amidst continual failures and the need to right the ship.
Everyone needs a strong Boeing but they have been getting weaker by the day.
The government has every reason to push to effect change and that begins today.
In an industry like aviation, don't underestimate the ability of the government to push for change and to ensure that the US remains the gold standard for aviation.
Right now Boeing is not and neither is United
They need a 20 year plan focussed on two completely new airframes.
They need someone like John Leahy
Leahy was a salesperson (and a damn good one), not really the C-suite type though. They need a Tim Clark!
Or hell, I hear Al Baker's available............