Boeing defense head Leanne Caret set to retire

WASHINGTON: Boeing’s defense business will get a new chief executive on Friday, with current CEO Leanne Caret retiring, the company announced today.

Ted Colbert, currently the top executive at Boeing’s global services business, will officially replace Caret on April 1. At the same time, Colbert will be replaced by Stephanie Pope, the chief financial officer for global services.

Colbert, who joined the company in 2009, will oversee Boeing’s business geared to defense, space, intelligence and government customers, which logged $26 billion in revenues last year. He previously worked as Boeing’s chief information officer (CIO) and senior vice president of information technology & data analytics.

“Throughout his career, Ted Colbert has consistently brought technical excellence and strong and innovative leadership to every position he has held,” Boeing President and CEO Dave Calhoun said in a statement.

“Under his leadership, BGS has assembled an excellent leadership team focused on delivering safe and high-quality services for our defense and commercial customers. His leadership track record and current experience supporting the defense services portfolio ideally position Ted to lead BDS.”

Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst with AeroDynamic Advisory, said Colbert’s big challenge “is not that much different” than Caret’s: “righting the ship after years of under investment in engineering and technical resources,” Aboulafia said. “That’s the big macro thing happening here.”

Caret, a second-generation Boeing employee who began working for the company in 1988, took over Boeing’s defense unit after the company lost the Long Range Strike Bomber contract in 2015.

During her tenure, Boeing logged a number of big defense wins — such as contracts for the T-7 trainer, the MH-139 Grey Wolf helicopter and the MQ-25 tanker drone — and was successful in inducing the Air Force to begin buying the new F-15EX.

However, her years as CEO were also marred by the ongoing fiasco that is the KC-46 program, a longtime source of discord between the company and the Air Force, and which has now logged more than $5 billion in cost overruns — all paid for by Boeing.

Starting in April, Caret will take on a new role as executive vice president and senior advisor to Calhoun before her retirement later this year.

“We are grateful for Leanne’s dedicated service and I’d like to thank her for her outstanding contributions to our industry, our customers, our company and our employees over her extraordinary career at Boeing,” Calhoun.