Boeing announced that Robert K. “Kelly” Ortberg will be its new president and CEO starting August 8 , replacing Dave Calhoun.
Former CEO of Rockwell Collins, 64-year-old Ortberg will also serve on Boeing’s Board of Directors.
“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,” said Steven Mollenkopf, Chair of the Board. “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.”
“I’m extremely honored and humbled to join this iconic company,” said Ortberg. “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.”
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Kelly Ortberg was named as a potential candidate for Boeing CEO this week by The Air Current. Until then, names such as the current CEO of Spirit AeroSystems, Pat Shanahan, and the CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, Stephanie Pope, were considered.
A graduate of the University of Iowa with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, 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 senior leadership roles within the company before becoming its president and CEO in 2013.
After five years leading Rockwell Collins, he led the company’s integration with United Technologies and RTX until his retirement from RTX in 2021.
Boeing has been searching for a new CEO since March following the announcement of Calhoun amid criticism over shortcomings in commercial aircraft production.
The current chief executive, however, had said he would remain in the role until the end of 2024.
