Boeing just named its new CEO — an aerospace veteran with the tough task of getting the planemaker back on track
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Kelly Ortberg, an industry veteran, will be the new CEO of Boeing.
Airline bosses wanted someone with an engineering background, like Ortberg.
He'll be tasked with getting the planemaker back on track after the Alaska Airlines blowout.
Boeing announced on Wednesday that Kelly Ortberg, the former boss of the avionics firm Rockwell Collins, would be its new CEO.
"There is much work to be done, and I'm looking forward to getting started," Ortberg said in a press release.
He will replace Dave Calhoun effective August 8.
Boeing's chairman, Steve Mollenkopf, told employees there had been a "thorough and extensive search process over the last several months."
Ortberg, 64, has a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Iowa.
He began his career at Texas Instruments in 1983 and moved to Rockwell Collins four years later. He was president and CEO of the avionics firm for five years until it was acquired by RTX in 2018. Ortberg retired from RTX in 2021.
Airline bosses like Emirates' Tim Clark had called on Boeing to appoint someone with an engineering background, given the planemaker's well-documented quality-control problems in recent years.
When Calhoun, an accounting graduate, resigned, he said Boeing needed to prioritize safety over quickly delivering planes.
His predecessor, Dennis Muilenburg, did have an engineering background. Muilenburg was fired in 2019 after the two 737 Max crashes.
Ortberg will also have to contend with supply-chain problems and achieving certification for new planes like the 777X and the 737 Max 10.
Wednesday's CEO announcement came at the same time as Boeing's quarterly earnings. The planemaker reported a net loss of $1.44 billion — worse than analysts' expectations.
Calhoun announced his resignation in March, two months after the Alaska Airlines blowout. When a door plug came off a 737 Max in midair, the fact that the plane had been delivered just 66 days earlier suggested Boeing was to blame.
In a preliminary report, the National Transportation Safety Board said the jet left Boeing's factory missing key bolts designed to secure the door plug.
The incident prompted the Justice Department to revisit a 2021 deferred-prosecution agreement. This month Boeing pleaded guilty to one charge of conspiracy to defraud the US.
It also faces another Justice Department investigation and lawsuits related to the Alaska Airlines incident.
"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," Ortberg said.
Read the original article on Business Insider
