Boeing’s “Board of Directors has elected Robert K. "Kelly" Ortberg as the company's new president and chief executive officer, effective August 8, 2024. Ortberg will also serve on Boeing's Board of Directors”, according to the aircraft manufacturer.

Otberg succeeds Dave Calhoun, “who earlier this year announced his intention to retire from the company, having served as president and CEO since January 2020, and as a member of Boeing's Board of Directors since 2009.”

Chairman of the company’s Board, Stephen Molllenkopf says the choice of Kelly was after "a thorough and extensive search process over the last several months, noting that “Kelly has the right skills and experience to lead Boeing in its next chapter,". "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", said Mollenkopf.

"I'm extremely honored and humbled to join this iconic company," said Ortberg. "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 brings to the position a substantial experience in “aerospace leadership” according to Boeing. He “began his career in 1983 as an engineer at Texas Instruments, and then joined Rockwell Collins in 1987 as a program manager and held increasingly important leadership positions at the company prior to becoming its president and CEO in 2013. After five years leading Rockwell Collins, he steered the company's integration with United Technologies and RTX until his retirement from RTX in 2021.”