Former Rockwell Collins Boss Kelly Ortberg Named New Boeing CEO

Boeing’s board of directors has elected Kelly Ortberg as its new president and CEO, an experienced aerospace executive who intends to put safety “at the forefront” of the company’s operations.

Ortberg’s appointment will take effect on August 8, replacing outgoing CEO Dave Calhoun earlier than his scheduled departure at the end of 2024.

“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,” Steve Mollenkopf, chair of Boeing’s board of directors, said. “He 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.”

Ortberg, 64, previously served as the CEO of Rockwell Collins, a corporation that supplied aviation systems and technological services to commercial clients and government agencies until its acquisition by United Technologies in November 2018.

Following this, Boeing said that Ortberg “steered the company’s integration with United Technologies and RTX until his retirement from RTX in 2021.”

Ortberg presently holds a position on the board of directors at Aptiv, a supplier of automotive technology, and sits as co-chair of the board of directors for FIRST, an organization which organizes annual robotics competitions at U.S. high schools.

He has also chaired the Aerospace Industries Association’s board of governors.

In 2017, during his tenure with Rockwell Collins, Ortberg won an employee’s choice award from job site Glassdoor, which recognized him as one of the the 100 highest employee-rated CEOs among large U.S. companies.

Ortberg’s steps into the shoes of Dave Calhoun, who has held the top job at Boeing since January 2020.

In March, Calhoun announced that he would be stepping down at the end of the year in the wake of the January 5 Alaska Airlines door plug incident and the subsequent scrutiny of Boeing’s leadership.

Other names which emerged as potential replacements were Boeing chief operating officer Stephanie Pope, Spirit AeroSpace CEO Patrick Shanahan and Chair Mollenkopf himself.

However, one expert previously told Newsweek that Boeing may have leaned towards an outside pick, such as Ortberg, who would not be as ingrained in the company culture and therefore better able to implement necessary changes across Boeing’s operations.

“We look forward to working with him as he leads Boeing through this consequential period in its long history,” Mollenkopf said, before thanking the departing Calhoun for his “strong leadership” through “the challenges of recent years.”

According to Boeing, Calhoun will stay on as a special advisor to the Boeing board of directors until March 2025.

“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. “There is much work to be done, and I’m looking forward to getting started.”

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