Signaling a potential successor to Boeing [BA] President and CEO Dave Calhoun, the company on Monday named Stephanie Pope to the newly created position of chief operating officer (COO), overseeing each of the company’s operating segments, engineering, and global operations.
She will report directly to Calhoun.
Pope, 51, is currently president and CEO of Boeing Global Services, the company’s operating segment that provides a range of services for commercial and defense customers worldwide. Pope will become COO on Jan. 1, 2024.
Pope’s background is in finance and accounting. She graduated with a degree in accounting from Southwest Missouri State Univ. and earned a Master of Business Administration from Lindenwood Univ. in St. Louis.
Before becoming the head of Boeing Global Services in April 2022, Pope was chief financial officer of the company’s Commercial Airplanes segment and before that was the top finance officer at Global Services. She is a 29-year veteran of the company and previously served as vice president of finance and controller of the Boeing Defense, Space & Security segment.
“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,” Calhoun said in a statement. “Next year will be a significant transitional year in our performance as we continue to restore our operational and financial strength, and Stephanie will help drive the stability and predictability necessary to ensure we deliver on our customer, employee, regulatory, investor and other stakeholder commitments.”
Boeing Global Services has been a strong performer for the company, posting operating income of $2.7 billion and $17.6 billion in sales in 2022, up 35 percent and 8 percent, respectively, versus 2021. Through the first three quarters of 2023, operating income at the segment is up 19 percent to $2.5 billion and sales rose 9 percent to $14.3 billion.
Jefferies & Co. aerospace and defense analyst Sheila Kahyaoglu said in a client note that Pope’s appointment “could be setting her up as a possible successor to Dave Calhoun as CEO.”
Boeing’s mandatory retirement age is 65, but in 2021 the company’s board extended the standard retirement age to 70 for Calhoun, who is 66.
Kahyaoglu highlighted several prominent operational challenges Boeing currently faces, including increasing production of its 737 MAX and 787 commercial passenger plane programs and overcoming some challenging fixed-price development programs in the defense segment that have suffered recurring losses.