Boeing has picked a new chief to hopefully thrust it into the air. After a monthslong search, the aerospace giant selected Robert “Kelly” Ortberg, the former CEO of aerospace company Rockwell Collins.
Ortberg replaces Dave Calhoun, who announced earlier this year he’s retiring after four years at the helm. Calhoun was hired to turn things around at Boeing back in 2020 — his predecessor was fired over safety concerns following two deadly crashes that killed 346 people — but since then, it seems like it’s been one crisis after another for the company.
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Most recently, Boeing agreed to plead guilty to a felony charge of conspiring to defraud the federal government. The Department of Justice said Boeing had violated a 2021 agreement that allowed the company to escape criminal charges after the two crashes.
Victims and safety advocates say Boeing continues to get sweetheart deals over catastrophic events.
Ortberg will start in his new position Aug. 8, escaping this week’s earnings call and next week’s two-day hearing by the National Transportation Safety Board on the Alaska Airlines door blowout that happened in January. Ortberg will start the day after the hearing concludes.
Unlike Calhoun, who came from a more financial background, Ortberg’s degree is in mechanical engineering. While Boeing’s financials are also struggling – on Wednesday, July 31, the company reported a bigger quarterly loss and weaker revenue than expected – its safety issues are paramount.
“I’m extremely honored and humbled to join this iconic company,” Ortberg said in a statement. “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.”
Ortberg’s more than three decades of aerospace experience put him at the top of Boeing’s list, and now he inherits a long list of critical to-dos.
