The Boeing Company
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Leadership History
3 leaders · Full leadership timeline
Founded in Seattle in 1916, Boeing became synonymous with commercial aviation through aircraft families such as the 707, 747, 737, 777, and 787 while also building a major defense and space business.
Boeing operates a highly major, capital-intensive aerospace and defense business model. They generate staggering tens of billions by physically manufacturing complex, multi-million dollar commercial aircraft (737, 787) for major global airlines, while simultaneously executing lucrative, multi-billion dollar classified weapons and space contracts for the US Government.
President and Chief Executive Officer
Ortberg leads Boeing's safety, quality, production, and financial recovery effort.
Chairman of the Board
Mollenkopf provides board leadership during Boeing's operational recovery.
Founder
William Boeing founded the company and established its early aviation manufacturing base.
Boeing must restore production stability, improve safety and quality culture, manage certification timelines, negotiate labor agreements, rebuild supply chain performance, and reduce fixed-price defense losses.
Kelly Ortberg was named CEO of Boeing in August 2024. A highly respected aerospace engineer and industry veteran, he was brought in specifically to restore Boeing's broken safety culture and fix its disastrous manufacturing processes.
Dave Calhoun served as CEO from 2020 to 2024. He was brought in to 'fix' the company after the MAX crashes. However, after a door-plug blew out of a Boeing 737 mid-flight in 2024, exposing massive ongoing quality control failures, airline CEOs demanded his resignation.
Dennis Muilenburg was the CEO during the two fatal 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019. He was fired by the board for his disastrous, defensive public handling of the crisis, repeatedly blaming the pilots before finally admitting the plane's software was flawed.
Harry Stonecipher was the former CEO of McDonnell Douglas who eventually became CEO of Boeing. Critics universally point to him as the man who destroyed Boeing's legendary engineering culture, infamously stating, 'When people say I changed the culture of Boeing, that was the intent, so that it's run like a business rather than a great engineering firm.'
Historically, Boeing was led by brilliant engineers who obsessed over safety. Over the last 25 years, the board replaced engineers with financial accountants (like Calhoun) who aggressively cut costs, laid off quality inspectors, and prioritized stock buybacks over safe airplanes.