Boeing announced that its CFO, Greg Smith, will be assuming new, expanded responsibilities ahead of the planned retirement of two senior executives later this year.
The company said Smith would begin duties as executive vice president of enterprise performance and strategy, in addition to his CFO duties, effective July 1. Boeing said in a statement that Smith would oversee the launch of Boeing Global Services and would be tasked with accelerating innovation, productivity, and market-based affordability projects while identifying, developing, and deploying general managers and program managers.
“This is an evolution of Greg’s already substantial and impactful role within our company,” Boeing chairman, president and CEO Dennis Muilenburg said in a statement. “In addition to being responsible for financial management, corporate development and overall company strategy, Greg will oversee and drive key cross-enterprise performance levers that are critical to achieving our growth and performance aspirations and to running our company better and more competitively every day.”
The announcement comes as Boeing vice chairman Ray Conner and vice president Scott Fancher are set to retire. Muilenburg said those planned moves created a window to consolidate a range of “performance-based enterprise efforts” under Smith.
Fancher has announced he will retire in September, after 40 years at the company.
Boeing’s stock has risen more than $75 per share over the past year. Last week, at the Paris airshow, it announced customer orders for 571 aircraft, besting rival Airbus, on the strength of demand for its 737 Max 10 from “particularly active” Asian buyers, Bloomberg reported. By contrast, buying from the United States and Europe was “relatively restrained.”
“We have never seen a demographic shift like that ever in the world, in terms of the scale but also the purchasing power,” said Domhnal Slattery, CEO of leasing company Avolon. “We’re backing that global trend.” Avolon ordered $8.4 billion in Boeing planes.