Electra.aero names new CEO

Electra.aero has named B. Marc Allen its new CEO, succeeding founder John S. Langford, who will remain chairman, the Manassas-based aviation startup announced Thursday.

Allen spent the bulk of his career, nearly two decades, at Boeing, which is headquartered in Arlington County. Since 2020, he served as chief strategy officer and senior vice president for strategy and corporate development. In that role, he was responsible for overarching strategy, including long-term planning, global business and corporate development and strategic investments, acquisitions and divestitures.

In 2014, Allen was appointed to Boeing’s executive council and later became president of subsidiary Boeing International. He stepped down as chief strategy officer at the end of 2023, part of a reorganization of Boeing’s strategy arm that eliminated the job. In January, a Boeing jet experienced a midair blowout of a 4-foot wall panel while passengers were on an Alaska Airlines flight. The incident led to a C-suite shakeup and federal fines in the hundreds of millions of dollars, as well as declining orders and sales.

Allen earned a degree in political theory at Princeton University and finished law school at Yale. Early in his career, he clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Anthony M. Kennedy.

Backed by Lockheed Martin Ventures, Electra builds hybrid-electric Ultra Short airplanes that fly people and cargo without airports, emissions or noise. The company has more than 2,000 orders from more than 50 commercial clients, as of January, and in November 2023, Electra’s hybrid prototype aircraft, the EL-2 Goldfinch, took off for the first time at the Manassas airport.

Langford, an aerospace entrepreneur who previously founded Aurora Flight Sciences, which develops air vehicles and technology, and Athena Technologies, a developer and manufacturer of control and navigation solutions for unmanned aerial vehicles, launched Electra in 2020. Since then he has served as both chairman and CEO. With Allen’s appointment, Langford will continue on as chairman, focusing on long-term strategy and innovation.

“I am not going anywhere; I’m just splitting my job,” Langford wrote in a post on LinkedIn.

Langford built a friendship with Allen when Aurora Flight Sciences was acquired by Boeing in November 2017, he noted in the post.

“Marc’s exceptional background in global business and strategic leadership makes him the ideal choice to guide Electra into its next phase of growth,” Langford stated in a news release.

Electra has about 45 employees, according to a spokesperson. In 2023, the company received a Virginia Innovation Partnership Corp. Commonwealth Commercialization Fund grant, as well as an investment from VIPC’s Virginia Venture Partners.