Here’s who could replace Calhoun at the aircraft manufacturer

Need help at Boeing.

CEO Dave Calhoun announced Monday that he’ll step down from the aerospace giant’s top job at the end of the 12 months as the company grapples with a security and production quality crisis related to its best-selling 737 Max plane. said he would begin a seek for Calhoun’s successor.

Boeing also announced Monday that it’s replacing CEO Larry Kellner and CEO of its most significant business aircraft division, Stan Deal.

Calhoun told CNBC on Monday that the decision to retire was “100%” his and that he could be involved find a successor. His departure isn’t an enormous surprise considering the problems of the previous couple of months.

Boeing customers grew increasingly frustrated under Calhoun’s watch as they faced the fallout from recurring quality problems that affected programs resembling the 737 Max, 787 Dreamliner and the two 747s that may function Air Force One.

“We need someone to fix Boeing,” a top airline executive, who was not authorized to talk to the media, told CNBC after Boeing announced management changes on Monday. “They definitely needed a change.”

Due to produce chain problems, quality lapses and increased regulatory scrutiny following a panel explosion on a Boeing 737 Max 9 in January, plane deliveries are delayed and airline executives say the problems have forced them to alter their development and fleet plans.

Boeing customer managers told CNBC they need the company’s recent leader to have manufacturing knowledge, expertise in the highly regulated and technical world of aviation and, perhaps most difficult of all, the ability to unite Boeing’s employees and ensure a culture of safety and consistency. and innovation.

“It shall be a difficult role. You’re going to wish someone who has quite a lot of energy and commitment,” said John Plueger, CEO of , a major buyer of Boeing planes that leases them to airlines. “You don’t want someone for two years. You want someone to be at the helm of the ship for as long as possible.”

Boeing’s next chief executive will have to deal not only with the company’s internal struggles but also with losing market share to a rival. Meanwhile, China continues to build its own commercial aircraft.

“I need someone who knows how to handle a large, long-term business like ours,” Calhoun said in an interview with CNBC on Monday, announcing his departure. “It’s not just the production of an airplane. This is the development of another aircraft. Our next leader will be developing…the next airplane for Boeing.”

Financial analysts praised the time Boeing is taking to find Calhoun’s successor. The search will be led by four-term Boeing board member Steve Mollenkopf, former Qualcomm CEO, who will serve as independent chairman of the board.

“It provides continuity of leadership that a sudden change would not provide, and CEO Dave Calhoun clearly shares the need for increased security,” TD Cowen analyst Cai von Rumohr said in a Monday note.

While Boeing hasn’t commented on its top candidates, here’s who some aviation experts believe could potentially lead Boeing:

CEO Larry Culp “might be at the top of the list of Boeing CEOs,” said Richard Aboulafia, managing director of Aerodynamic Advisory, an aviation consulting firm.

Culp will head GE’s soon-to-be-spun off aerospace division, a company that produces and overhauls engines that power both Boeing and competing planes. Culp turned the conglomerate around and oversaw the division of the company.

“The relationship with Boeing has never been stronger,” Culp told reporters earlier this month at an investor event. “Without a doubt, 2024 has not turned out the way we would have hoped, let alone the way we would have hoped. We try to support them in every way possible.”

But Culp is focused on GE’s aerospace unit as a standalone company, a GE spokesman said in response to questions about his potential future at Boeing.

Another possibility is Pat Shanahan, interim CEO, Aboulafia said.

Shanahan, a 30-year Boeing veteran, was named last October as director of the Boeing supplier that produces fuselages for the Boeing 737 Max and other parts as Spirit dealt with its own quality problems, which spilled over to Boeing.

Boeing is in talks to buy Spirit, bringing back the fuselage maker after spinning it off nearly two decades ago. The appointment could naturally place Shanahan as CEO of the combined company.

“Mr. Shanahan stays solely focused on implementing a zero defect culture across all features of Spirit AeroSystems,” Spirit spokesman Joe Buccino told CNBC on Monday.

Aboulafia also mentioned CEO and Chairman David Gitlin, who serves on Boeing’s board of directors.

Gitlin has a background in aviation, previously serving as president and chief operating officer of Collins Aerospace. Aviation experts say someone with extensive experience in manufacturing and operations will be needed.

Stephanie Pope, who was recently promoted to chief operating officer after serving as head of Boeing’s global services unit, is the most obvious internal option to succeed Calhoun. (Former Boeing CFO Greg Smith left the company in 2021. He was also seen as a potential successor.)

However, Pope will take over from Stan Deal, who is retiring as head of Boeing’s commercial aircraft division, the company said Monday. One aviation executive asked why Boeing wouldn’t have announced her nomination on Monday if she had been the one to choose.

“The leadership changes are intended to institutionalize a company-wide safety priority by bringing in recent blood,” wrote TD Cowen’s von Rumohr.

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