Boeing defense chief Ted Colbert pushed out

WASHINGTON — Ted Colbert, chief executive of Boeing’s defense unit, exited the company today effective immediately amid the unit’s continued poor performance and crippling financial losses. Steve Parker, Boeing defense’s chief operating officer, will take on leadership at the unit while the company seeks out a permanent replacement, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said in a memo to employees. “I want to thank Ted for his 15 years of service at The Boeing Company, supporting our customers, our people and our communities,” Ortberg said in the memo. “At this critical juncture, our priority is to restore the trust of our customers and meet the high standards they expect of us to enable their critical missions around the world,” Ortberg said. “Working together we can and will improve our performance and ensure we deliver on our commitments.”

Colbert’s ouster comes just a week after Boeing Chief Financial Officer Brian West, speaking to investors at a financial conference, disclosed that margins at the defense unit would be negative during the third quarter amid continued difficulties reversing cost overruns from fixed-priced defense contracts, as well as newly discovered production challenges on the F-15EX and F/A-18 Super Hornet.

Colbert, previously the top executive at Boeing’s services division, took the reins of Boeing Defense, Space and Security (BDS) in 2022, a period when the defense company was ailing from pandemic-induced supply chain and labor woes as well as billions in reach-forward losses on programs like the KC-46 tanker, MQ-25 tanker drone and Air Force One replacement.

https://breakingdefense.com/2024/09/boeing-defense-chief-ted-colbert-pushed-out/