Boeing named former Rockwell Collins executive Kelly Ortberg as its new president and CEO, effective Aug. 8, the company announced Wednesday morning.
Ortberg will also serve on the aircraft maker’s board of directors. He will succeed Dave Calhoun, who has served as Boeing’s chief executive since 2020. Calhoun announced his resignation in March amid the company’s ongoing manufacturing safety scandal.
Calhoun will serve as a special advisor to the company’s board until March of next year, Chairman Steve Mollenkopf said in a Wednesday message to Boeing employees.
Ortberg has worked in the aerospace industry for over 35 years, according to the Boeing announcement. He most recently served as Rockwell Collins’ president and CEO beginning in 2013, part of a tenure that began in 1987.
In 2018, he was heavily involved in in aircraft component maker United Technologies’ acquisition of Rockwell Collins, forming Collins Aerospace. Ortberg also had a hand in the merger of United Technologies and RTX, until his retirement in February 2021.
“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,” Mollenkopf said in the release. “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.”
Ortberg will have an arduous journey ahead of him as CEO. He joins Boeing as the company works to salvage its reputation and finances, as well as resolve legal issues involving two fatal 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019. The company announced an approximate $1.4 billion year-over-year loss in Q2 on Wednesday.
Ortberg will also have to deal with possible labor union strikes at two of its Washington facilities. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 751 members overwhelmingly passed a strike sanction earlier this month, opening the door for a possible production stoppage if the two parties do not reach an agreement before the current contract expires in September.
The National Transportation Safety Board will hold a hearing in Washington, D.C., regarding the January Alaska Airlines door plug incident next week and subpoenaed Boeing witnesses to appear.
However, unlike others present at the hearing, Boeing will not be allowed to ask other participants any questions after the NTSB sanctioned the company for disclosing non-public and inaccurate information about the ongoing Alaska Airlines and Southwest investigations.
