Boeing appoints new CEO as company looks to recover from pressing issues

Aerospace giant Boeing has named Robert K. Ortberg as its new president and CEO as the company looks to recover from a slew of challenges.

Ortberg is replacing David Calhoun, who announced his resignation as president and CEO and as a director earlier this year. Calhoun will continue to be an employee of the company and serve as a senior advisor to the Boeing Board of Directors until his retirement on March 1, 2025.

The Boeing Board of Directors approved an annual base salary rate of $1.5 million for Ortberg and an annual incentive award target of $3 million for 2025, as well as a long-term incentive award target of $17.5 million for 2025, according to an SEC filing.

Ortberg will also receive a cash award of $1.25 million in December 2024 as long as he continues his employment through then.

The new Boeing CEO will be tasked with guiding the company through multiple challenges after the company faced criticism over mechanical malfunctions and questions about quality throughout 2024.

"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,” Ortberg said in a news release. “There is much work to be done, and I'm looking forward to getting started."

Immediately after Ortberg was announced as the next CEO of Boeing, U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington released a statement saying the company needs to move back to Seattle.

"It's a good first step that the CEO will be based in Seattle, and now the rest of the headquarters needs to move back home to rejoin our world-class aviation workforce,” Cantwell said in a news release. “When it comes to quality and safety, being close to the workforce on the ground matters."

The Center Square previously reported on Boeing contributing more than 66,000 aerospace employees to the total 77,400 in Washington, which generates more than $580 million in state tax revenue.

Ortberg first started his career in 1983 as an engineer at Texas Instruments, and then joined Rockwell Collins in 1987 as a program manager and worked his way up to becoming its president and CEO in 2013.

He most recently retired from RTX, an aerospace and defense company, in 2021 and is the former chair of the Aerospace Industries Association Board of Governors.

Ortberg will start his new role at Boeing on Aug. 8.