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.
Robert “Kelly” Ortberg is new Boeing CEO
As of August 8, 2024, Robert “Kelly” Ortberg will become the new President and CEO of Boeing, and he’ll also serve on the company’s Board of Directors. Ortberg succeeds Dave Calhoun, who held that position since January 2020.
64-year-old Ortberg brings over 35 years of aerospace leadership to this position. He began his career in 1983 as an engineer at Texas Instruments, and then joined Rockwell Collins in 1987, as a program manager, and held increasingly important leadership positions at the company prior to becoming CEO in 2013.
After leading Rockwell Collins for five years, he steered the company’s integration with United Technologies and RTX, until his retirement from RTX in 2021. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering of the University of Iowa.
Here’s how Boeing Board Chair Steven Mollenkopf describes this appointment:
“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.”
Meanwhile here’s what Ortberg had to say about his new role:
“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.”
Boeing’s new CEO has his work cut out for him!
I’m no expert on the aerospace industry at large (beyond what I know about commercial aircraft), and I can’t say I knew all that much about Ortberg. What does stand out to me, and what I very much appreciate, is that Boeing finally picked an outsider for this important leadership position.
I hope Ortberg can take a fresh, big picture look at the company, and focus on what’s best for Boeing in the long run, rather than what’s best for the company’s short term stock price (and hopefully the company finds some way to incentivize him accordingly).
When Boeing fired its previous CEO in 2019 and appointed Calhoun, I thought that was a questionable choice, since he wasn’t a company outsider. It was clear Boeing needed a change, and at the time, Boeing claimed that Calhoun had “a proven track record of strong leadership, and he recognizes the challenges we must confront.”
Obviously that didn’t turn out to be the case, as Boeing’s reputation is basically as bad as it has ever been, and for good reason.
Bottom line
After a search of several months, Boeing has appointed Robert “Kelly” Ortberg as CEO. He’s the former CEO of Rockwell Collins, and has decades of experience in aerospace. Here’s to hoping that he’s the right guy to get the job done, and can change the company’s culture.
What do you make of Boeing’s new CEO appointment?
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