New CEO starts at Boeing as 737 MAX crisis continues

"With deep industry experience and a proven track record of performance, Dave is the right leader to navigate Boeing through this challenging time in our 104-year legacy," said Lawrence W. Kellner, chairman of the Boeing Board of Directors. "We're confident Dave will take Boeing forward with intense focus on our values, including safety, quality and integrity."

"We also want to thank Greg Smith for his leadership as interim CEO and are pleased Boeing will continue to benefit from his contributions as he returns to the role of Boeing chief financial officer and executive vice president of Enterprise Performance & Strategy," concluded Kellner.

Calhoun, 62, has served in various senior leadership roles within several large-scale enterprises including at the Blackstone Group, Nielsen Holdings and GE.

During his 26-year tenure at GE, he led multiple business units including GE Transportation and GE Aircraft Engines where safety was paramount. He has served on the Boeing Board of Directors since 2009 and served as chairman from 11^th October to 22^nd December 2019.

"I'm honoured to lead the talented people of Boeing as we face our challenges. Working together, we will strengthen our safety culture, improve transparency and rebuild trust with our customers, regulators, suppliers and the flying public," said Calhoun. "With the strength of our team, I'm confident in the future of Boeing, including the 737 MAX."

Calhoun shared his top priorities for 2020 with all Boeing employees today:

• Return the 737 MAX to service safely: This must be our primary focus. This includes following the lead of our regulators and working with them to ensure they’re satisfied completely with the airplane and our work, so that we can continue to meet our customer commitments. We’ll get it done, and we’ll get it done right.


• Rebuild trust: Many of our stakeholders are rightly disappointed in us, and it’s our job to repair these vital relationships. We’ll do so through a recommitment to transparency and by meeting and exceeding their expectations. We will listen, seek feedback, and respond — appropriately, urgently and respectfully.


• Focus on our values: Every day we will commit to our shared values while further strengthening our culture. Your voice is important in this. We will foster an inclusive environment that embraces oversight and accountability and puts safety, quality and integrity above all else.


• Operate with excellence: Operational Excellence is how we work together to deliver safe products and services to our customers, while continuously improving our quality metrics. This requires a focused approach and we will all need to find any opportunities for simplification to ensure we are dedicated to what matters most. All of us are accountable for it.


• Maintain production health: We’ll keep taking steps to maintain our supply chain and workforce expertise so we’re ready to restart production and increase rate safely, smartly and with the highest standards of quality.


• Invest in our future: Our markets are growing, customer demand is evolving, the competition is increasing and technology is advancing at a pace we’ve never seen before. Boeing must keep innovating to succeed. We’ll continue to invest in our global workforce and new processes and technologies that will help us become safer and more efficient as we define the future of aerospace. This work includes preparing for the first CST-100 Starliner crewed mission, first flights of the 777X and 737 MAX 10, further growth of our Global Services business and finalization of our Embraer partnership.

www.boeing.com