Report: Former Collins CEO in the running for Boeing chief

Former Rockwell Collins Chief Executive Officer Kelly Ortberg has emerged as a serious contender for Boeing’s next chief executive, according to a news site that follows the aerospace and aviation industry.

Air Current cited “multiple industry officials” naming Ortberg as under consideration.

Other front-runners for the job are Pat Shanahan, CEO of Spirit AeroSystems, and Stephanie Pope, CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, according to Air Current.

The board for the beleaguered Boeing wants to appoint a new CEO soon, according to the news site. Boeing releases its second-quarter earnings report Wednesday.

Ortberg, who grew up in Dubuque and is a 1982 graduate of the University of Iowa, was president of Rockwell Collins from 2012 to 2018. He led Rockwell through its acquisition by United Technologies Corp. in 2018 that transformed Rockwell Collins into Collins Aerospace, where he was named CEO.

United Technologies and Raytheon then merged to become Raytheon Technologies, which rebranded itself as RTX. In 2021, Ortberg became a special adviser to the CEO of Raytheon Technologies before retiring later that year, when MarketScreener listed his age as 59.