Federal Contractors | Technology 2024: ROBERT K. ‘KELLY’ ORTBERG

In August, Ortberg succeeded Dave Calhoun, who stepped down after a turbulent four-year tenure as the Arlington Fortune Global 500 aerospace and defense giant’s chief executive.

Ortberg is the retired president and CEO of aerospace and defense contractor Rockwell Collins, now absorbed into Arlington-based defense contractor RTX. He started in 1983 as an engineer at Texas Instruments and joined Rockwell Collins in 1987 as a program manager. He previously served on RTX’s board of directors. In an email to staff, Ortberg said he will be based in Seattle, where he will focus on rebuilding trust in Boeing’s commercial aircraft division.

Boeing has been plagued by problems with its 737 Max planes such as fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 and a midair wall-panel blowout on a January commercial flight. Also, this summer, two Boeing Starliner astronauts were stranded on the International Space Station, likely until a spacecraft made by rival SpaceX can retrieve them in February 2025.

In July, Boeing announced that it would buy back Spirit AeroSystems in a $4.7 billion, all-stock transaction with an aim of taking over quality control of plane construction. Also that month, Boeing finalized its guilty plea to a federal criminal fraud conspiracy charge, under which it will pay at least $243.6 million in fines.

Boeing, which employs 170,000 workers worldwide, posted 2023 revenue of $77.79 billion, up from $66.6 billion in 2022.