Ray Conner: From airplane mechanic to BCA president and CEO

With deep experience across all facets of our commercial airplanes business, Ray Conner stands ready to lead BCA as it scales up for growth and confronts increased global competition and other challenges.

By now you've probably picked up on the news that Ray Conner will succeed the retiring Jim Albaugh as president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

Please join me in thanking Jim for 37 years of service across our defense, space and security businesses and, most recently, for his work at BCA, where he stepped in at a critical time to ensure the certification and successful entry into service of the 787 Dreamliner and 747-8 — and oversaw the launch of the 737 MAX with an impressive total of customer orders and commitments. Jim leaves in place a talented and motivated team, a renewed focus on technical excellence, and a healthier, more competitive business poised for growth and renewed industry leadership.

Delivering on that growth and sustaining our legacy of leadership will be no small task for Ray Conner and the BCA team. Without question, the accomplishments of recent years at BCA have retired substantial risk to our business and helped restore our reputation with customers and other stakeholders. Yet much work remains to be done to meet the full slate of commitments we've made to our customers and other stakeholders. Those commitments include the ramp up to full-rate production of the 787; further increases in production of the 777 and 737; on-time, on-cost development of the 737 MAX; and continued productivity and profitability improvement across all programs to fund investments in the MAX and potential additions to our 777 and 787 families. And all of this takes place against a backdrop of increasing global competition and the constant ebb and flow of market uncertainties.

With a breadth and depth of experience that is unmatched in the industry, Ray is exceptionally well-suited to lead BCA through these challenging but exciting times. Over his 34-year career he has built airplanes, sold airplanes, serviced airplanes, managed large development and production programs, become intimately familiar with our global customers and suppliers, and has earned the respect of employees throughout the company. He is the natural next leader of our growing commercial airplanes business, and I have full confidence in his — and BCA's — success.

For those of you who may not be familiar with Ray's background, he most recently led BCA's global sales, marketing and customer support. Before that, as head of supply chain management and operations, he was responsible for all business conducted with our suppliers, as well as the performance of BCA's in-house manufacturing, quality, fabrication and propulsion systems divisions. In this role, he led development of our new production and final assembly operations in South Carolina. Over the years, Ray also led development and production on the 747 and 777 programs, and sales for the Americas and Asia-Pacific regions. Last year, he played a vital part in negotiating the landmark contract extension with IAM-751. Punctuating the story in a unique way is the fact that Ray joined Boeing in 1977 as a mechanic on the 727 program.

With Ray at the helm; a proven, customer-focused BCA team behind him; and a companywide team fully supporting him, BCA will continue on its steady journey to deliver growth to Boeing and ever-increasing value to the customers we are honored to serve around the world.

Jim