Boeing announced that its 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 the Board.

He will succeed Dave Calhoun, who earlier this year announced his intention to retire from the company. Calhoun has served as president and CEO since January 2020 and has been a member of Boeing's Board of Directors since 2009.

"The Board conducted a thorough and extensive search process over the last several months to select the next CEO of Boeing, and Kelly has the right skills and experience to lead Boeing in its next chapter," said Steven Mollenkopf, Chair of the Board.

"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," added Mollenkopf.

Ortberg welcomed the appointment, citing Boeing as an "iconic company" while acknowledging the work that remains.

"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," he said.

"There is much work to be done, and I'm looking forward to getting started," Ortberg added.

Ortberg, 64, is the former CEO of Rockwell Collins, an aerospace company that supplied Boeing with avionics systems. He also served as the head of Rockwell Collins from 2013 through its integration with United Technologies and RTX until his retirement from RTX in 2021.

Boeing noted that Ortberg also held a number of important leadership posts in the industry, including serving on the Board of Directors of RTX. Additionally, he serves on the Board of Directors of Aptiv PLC, a global technology company and an industry leader in vehicle systems architecture.

He is the former Chair of the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) Board of Governors.

Ortberg's appointment comes four months after Calhoun announced that he would be stepping down as Boeing's CEO. This decision followed a mid-air blowout of a door panel on one of its Boeing 737 Max 9 planes, which prompted scrutiny from regulators and lawmakers.

Calhoun joined the company with the mandate to stabilize the business after two deadly crashes of Boeing aircraft in 2018 and 2019, to which Boeing earlier this month agreed to plead guilty to a criminal fraud charge.

Boeing reported a loss of over US$1.4 billion in the second quarter, with revenue falling 15% from a year earlier, which was below expectations.