Few companies have taken a reputation hit quite as hard as aircraft-making giant Boeing (BA) .
In March, then-chief executive Dave Calhoun stepped down amid a federal investigation into the blown-out door plug on a 737 Max 9 Alaska Airlines (ALK) plane in January 2024. The investigation revealed multiple oversights and flubbed safety procedures.
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It didn't help that whistleblowers like John Barnett, a South Carolina plane quality engineer who was about to give a court deposition over retaliation from his former employer over voicing safety issues, was later found dead in mysterious circumstances.
Boeing appoints a new CEO
Boeing started August by announcing that it had hired 64-year-old Robert "Kelly" Ortberg to replace Calhoun as the aircraft maker's chief executive officer.
Ortberg spent the last decade at the helm of the aviation technology company Rockwell Collins, which was rebranded as Collins Aerospace and acquired by RTX (RTX) in 2018.
Ortberg retired in 2021 but was convinced by Boeing's embattled board of directors to lead the company out of its current predicament.
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"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," Boeing Board Chairman Steven Mollenkopf wrote in a note to employees that was sent out before the news went public.
Ortberg has not been made available for interviews with the press; instead, he issued a single statement saying, "There is much work to be done" and that he's "looking forward to getting started."
The long to-do list includes guiding the company through the federal investigation over improper safety practices that, in some cases, go back decades, improving the company's balance sheet after the hits it took from stalled production of the 737 Max 9, and improving morale among employees and Boeing's general reputation with the public.
'Is he prepared to spend the 10 years it's going to take to restore Boeing?'
In its latest earnings release, Boeing announced a loss of $2.90 per adjusted share and a 15% decline in second-quarter revenue to $16.9 billion.
Boeing also recently pled guilty to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge and agreed to pay a $243.6 million fine over how it handled the investigation of the two 737 Max crashes that occurred within a few months of each other in October 2018 and March 2019.
"This is not a five-year fix-it," Bill George, former CEO of Medtronic and executive fellow at Harvard Business School, told Reuters. "Is he prepared to spend the 10 years it's going to take to restore Boeing?"
At the same time as it announced Calhoun's forced retirement, Boeing also said that it was ousting Head Of Commercial Aviation Stan Deal and Board Of Directors Chair Larry Kellner.
Their replacements are yet to be announced.
"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 further in his statement.
Only time will tell if Ortberg can succeed where Calhoun couldn't.
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