Boeing (NYSE:BA) has appointed Stephanie Pope as the executive vice president and chief operating officer of the company, effective January 1, 2024.
In this newly created role, Pope will report to Boeing President and CEO Dave Calhoun. As Boeing COO, Pope will be responsible for overseeing the performance of the company's three business units, focusing on supply chain, quality, manufacturing, and engineering excellence.
The CEOs of the business units, the Boeing Chief Engineer, and the President of Boeing Global will directly report to Pope, while senior corporate functional leaders will continue reporting to Calhoun.
"Stephanie brings tremendous operational, financial and customer experience to this role, as well as a proven record of performance across our commercial, defense and services business units," said Calhoun.
Following today’s announcement, investors now see Pope as the frontrunner to replace Calhoun as CEO in the future.
"I am honored to step into this new role and look forward to working closely with Dave, our Executive Council and all of our Boeing teammates," said Pope.
Analysts note that Pope’s promotion comes after she led “a superstar unit [Global Services] at Boeing in terms of operational excellence.”
“The move could be setting her up as a possible successor to Dave Calhoun as CEO,” analysts commented.
The Wall Street Journal said that Boeing’s board recently met to discuss successors, with Stephanie Pope among the three mentioned executives next to CFO Brian West and President of BCA Stan Deal.
“We view the announcement positively given Stephanie's recent track record at Boeing,” analysts added.