Investing.com -- Boeing Company's (NYSE:BA) Board of Directors elected Dennis Muilenburg as the 10th chief executive officer in company history, succeeding James McErnery, who held the position for the past decade, the company announced on Tuesday.
McErnery, who joined Boeing's board in 2001, will remain as chairman of the company until his planned retirement in February, 2016. The move is effective on July 1.
"Dennis is an extremely capable, experienced and respected leader with an immense passion for our company, our people, and our products and services," McErnery said in a statement."As CEO, Dennis will bring a rich combination of management skills, customer focus, business and engineering acumen, a can-do spirit and the will to win. With a deep appreciation of our past accomplishments, and the energy and skill to drive those to come, he is well suited to lead our very talented Boeing team into its second century."
Prior to ascending to company vice chairman, president and COO in December of 2013, Muilenburg served as president and CEO of Boeing Defense, Space & Security (BDS). The $31 billion division with a staff of 53,000 employees services the needs of defense, government, space, intelligence and security customers in the U.S. and around the world, according to Boeing.
"The opportunity to lead the people of Boeing in service to our commercial and government customers is a tremendous honor and responsibility," Muilenburg said in a statement. "Our company is financially strong and well positioned in our markets. As we continue to drive the benefits of integrating our enterprise skills, capabilities and experience – what we call operating as 'One Boeing' – we will find new and better ways to engage and inspire employees, deliver innovation that drives customer success, and produce results to fuel future growth and prosperity for all our stakeholders."
While Muilenburg indicated on Tuesday that Boeing is well-positioned in its commercial aircraft division, he is less sanguine about the short-term prospects of the company's defense arm.
"We do need to deliver on our new development programs like the 777 X and the 737 Max and build a bridge to those future programs," Muilenburg said in an interview with CNBC. "The defense market is a little more challenging right now. I think we are well-positioned and we're seeing continuing signs of international growth, in particular."
Muilenburg joined Boeing in 1985, after receiving a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering from Iowa State University and a master's degree in aeronautics and astronautics from the University of Washington. For the first 15 years of his Boeing career, Muilenburg primarily spent his time based in the Seattle-area, where he held management and engineering positions in Boeing's commercial and defense divisions.
Shares in Boeing inched down 0.66 or 0.46% to 143.82 following the announcement.