ARLINGTON, Va.— Boeing President and CEO Dave Calhoun along with BCA president and board chair announce resignations on Monday, March 25, after a plethora of safety and quality incidents arising after the near-fatal Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 in-flight mid-cabin door blowout in January.
“The eyes of the world are on us, and I know we will come through this moment a better company, building on all the learnings we accumulated as we worked together to rebuild Boeing over the last number of years,” Calhoun wrote in a memo posted to the Boeing’s website.
In Calhoun’s announcement on Monday, he shared that he would continue to lead Boeing through the end of 2024 to complete the critical work underway and to stabilize and position the company for the future.
“It has been the greatest privilege of my life to serve in both roles [former Board President and current CEO] and I will only feel the journey has been properly completed when we finish the job that we need to do. We are going to fix what isn’t working, and we are going to get our company back on the track towards recovery and stability,” wrote Calhoun.
Board Chair Larry Kellner also informed the board that he does not intend to stand for re-election at the upcoming Annual Shareholder meeting that is expected in April or May. The board has elected Steve Mollenkopf to succeed Kellner as independent board chair. In this role, Mollenkopf will lead the board’s process of selecting Calhoun’s successor, as Boeing’s next CEO.
Mollenkopf has served on the board of directors since 2020. He was previously CEO of Qualcomm. He has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering.
“I am honored and humbled to step into this new role,” said Mollenkopf. “I am fully confident in this company and its leadership – and together we are committed to taking the right actions to strengthen safety and quality, and to meet the needs of our customers. I also want to thank both Larry and Dave for their exceptional stewardship of Boeing during a challenging and consequential time for Boeing and the aerospace industry.”
Kellner has served on the Boeing Board for 13 years and served as its chair since late 2019. As chair, he oversaw the establishment of a new board aerospace safety committee, and during his tenure led the recruitment of seven new independent directors, bringing deep engineering, safety, manufacturing, and aerospace expertise to Boeing’s board.
“With Dave’s decision to step down as CEO at the end of this year, now is the right time for a transition to my successor,” Keller said. “Steve is the ideal next leader to take on the role of board chair, and it is important that the CEO selection process be led by a new chair who will stay at the helm as a partner to the new CEO. With a strong board, an excellent management team and 170,000 dedicated Boeing employees, I am fully confident in our company’s future.”
In addition to these changes, Stan Deal, Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO, will retire from the company and Stephanie Pope has been appointed to lead BCA, effective immediately.
Pope has been serving as chief operating officer of Boeing since January of this year. Previously, she was president and chief executive officer of Boeing Global Services, where she was responsible for leading the company’s aerospace services for commercial, government and aviation industry customers worldwide. Prior, she was chief financial officer of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, and has held positions in every Boeing business unit.
Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02), the lead Democrat on the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, released the below statement after Boeing announced a series of leadership transitions on Monday:
“The Boeing Company needs to get back to what it has done best: designing and engineering the safest and best airplanes in the world. That starts with Boeing getting back to its roots as an engineering company and away from its multi-decades focus of being a financial services company.
“Moving forward, the women and men who work at Boeing need leaders who match their commitment to safety and quality at every step of the plane making process. Boeing’s new leadership team must work hard to earn back the trust of its customers and the flying public.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: Added statement from Rep. Rick Larsen, 10:42 a.m., March 25, 2024.
Author: Mario Lotmore
