Boeing, hit with continuing financial losses, continuing manufacturing and certification delays and continuing reputation damage, has moved up the timetable for its new management, a change originally set to take place at the end of the year.
Robert Ortberg, known as Kelly, starts today as president and CEO is a change from his recent predecessors; his roots are in engineering rather than finance and management, an issue that has been pointed to as a source of some of the company’s problems. Ortberg is coming out of retirement after leading a number of aerospace companies including Rockwell Collins.
Ortberg has already sent one signal that may be welcomed by both regulators and the airline customers who are waiting for Boeing to meet certification on its newest planes and to reduce its backlogs: He plans to operate from Seattle, near the two main assembly plants for Boeing’s airlines rather than from corporate headquarters that migrated from Seattle to Chicago and then to Arlington, Virginia.
