Ex-Rockwell Collins Chief Executive Robert K. ‘Kelly’ Ortberg has been officially named as Boeing’s next President and CEO. Ortberg will start the role effective 8 August 2024.
First reported as a possibility by The Air Current on 28 July, Ortberg joined the list of contenders for Boeing’s Chief Executive position alongside Spirit Aerosystems’ CEO Pat Shanahan and Boeing’s current CEO for Commercial Airplanes, Stephanie Pope. Now, merely a few days later, Boeing has announced him as Dave Calhoun’s successor.
Boeing’s previous CEO and President, Dave Calhoun, announced his retirement from the role in March 2024, following the fallout from the Alaska Airlines ‘MAX 9 door plug’ flight in January earlier that year.
A veteran of the aerospace industry and a trained mechanical engineer, Ortberg retired from his role at RTX (formerly Rockwell Collins) in 2021 but brings over 35 years of aerospace leadership to Boeing.
Commenting on this new appointment, Steven Mollenkopf, Chair of the Board, said: “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.”
Ortberg commented that he was “extremely honoured and humbled” to work for such an “iconic” company and said: “There is much work to be done, and I’m looking forward to getting started.”
