• 05 Sep 2024 11:02 AM
• 0

Leadership Moves, Sept/Oct 2024

Larry Culp to Remain GE Aerospace CEO until 2028

The GE Aerospace Board of Directors, on June 30, approved an extended contract through 2027 to maintain CEO and chairman Larry Culp, who took the top job in 2018. The original General Electric company divested its aerospace and aviation in a restructuring led by Culp that was completed in April.

Supernal Hires Talent

In July, electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft company Supernal announced that David Rottblatt had joined the company as its Senior Director of Strategy and Commercialization. Rottblatt was previously with Pratt & Whitney, GE and Embraer, where he became the co-founder of Eve Air Mobility and served as Vice President of Business Development, Sales Engineering and Government Affairs. In addition, Gonzalo Ramos joined as Head of Ecosystem Partnerships, with past experience at Airbus and Overair. Bill Chakos become Head of Supply Chain and Procurement, with past experience at Douglas Aircraft, Boeing, Honeywell, Parker Hannifin and Otto Aviation.

Phil Kelly Joins Horizon Aircraft as Business Development VP

In July, eVTOL aircraft developer Horizon Aircraft appointed Phil Kelly as its new Vice President of Business Development. Kelly’s four decades of aerospace experience include leading aircraft development for the UK Royal Navy and Royal Marines.

Kelly Ortberg is New Boeing CEO

Boeing’s Board of Directors, on July 31, announced Robert “Kelly” Ortberg as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO), highlighting his three decades of engineering and executive jobs at Texas Instruments, Rockwell Collins and RTX (formerly Raytheon Technologies Corp.). Ortberg succeeds David Calhoun, who announced plans to leave Boeing earlier in 2024 amid scrutiny from the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and Congress of safety and production oversight for its 737 MAX aircraft. The NTSB is currently investigating Boeing as part of the Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 mid-air blowout.

Dufour Promotes Sascha Hardegger to CEO

Sascha Hardegger became the new CEO of Dufour Aerospace on Aug. 1 as its co-founder Thomas Pfammatter steps aside and takes the new role of head of strategy for the Swiss drone and electric aircraft company. Hardegger takes the top job after joining Dufour in 2021 as its Chief Commercial Officer, after he previously led innovation and drone programs as a program director at Swiss Air-Rescue Rega.

Boeing Vertical Lift Hires Chris Speight

In August, Chris Speight became the Chief Engineer of Boeing Vertical Lift. Speight was most recently the Director of Integrated Engineering at Sikorsky, where he led a team of 2,800 engineers, and was responsible for the strategy, planning and execution of aircraft integration, support, modernization and development, covering a wide range of functional engineering areas, from aircraft design, vehicle management and systems integration to manufacturing engineering and test. He also provided core engineering support for production, development and innovation programs to ensure the delivery of high-quality products and services. Previous positions during his 13 years at Sikorsky included serving as the Director of Rotary Systems & Sciences, Director of Platform System Integration and General Manager of Defense Systems and Services (DSS) Aircraft and Support. Before Sikorsky, Speights worked for 12 years at Honeywell on turbomachinery projects.