Boeing names COO Pope as potential successor to CEO Calhoun
Dec 11 (Reuters) – Boeing (BA.N) named 30-year company veteran Stephanie Pope as chief operating officer on Monday, likely making her one of the top contenders to take over from CEO David Calhoun when he decides to step down from the top job.
Pope currently heads the company’s aftermarket business, Boeing Global Services (BGS), the only segment to report a profit through the first nine months of this year as supply chain issues and cost overruns dragged its other two units – civil planemaking and defense.
Calhoun, who has guided Boeing through one of its most turbulent phases in decades after overlapping safety and pandemic-induced crises, is expected to remain in the top job for at least one more year, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.
The planemaker in April 2021 extended the required retirement age to 70 from 65 for Calhoun, giving him enough time to steer the planemaker through its recovery process after a series of missteps.
“Stephanie brings tremendous operational, financial and customer experience to this (COO) role,” Calhoun said on Monday.
Pope, who joined Boeing in 1994, has been involved with all three of the company’s key businesses through these years.
She was finance chief of the commercial airplanes business and vice president of finance and controller of Boeing’s Defense, Space & Security segment in her previous roles.
She took over as head of BGS in April 2022. The business provides services such as engineering, maintenance and modifications, upgrades and conversions as well as spare parts to Boeing’s commercial and defense customers.
Pope will be the first woman CEO in Boeing’s history if she is named to the top job.
Boeing’s board met in recent days to discuss top executives that could eventually succeed Calhoun, the WSJ reported. Also in the running were CFO Brian West and the head of its commercial airplanes business Stan Deal, the report added.
Reporting by Anirudh Saligrama and Abhijith Ganapavaram in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Rashmi Aich
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