Boeing promotes service leader in possible prelude to top job

Boeing named Stephanie Pope as COO, elevating a company veteran into the highest management sphere and turning her into a possible contender for the top job to succeed Dave Calhoun at the US aircraft manufacturer. Pope, who has worked at Boeing for almost three decades, previously oversaw the company’s Global Services division, a post she assumed early last year. Prior to that, she was CFO for Boeing Commercial Airplanes. As head of operations, a new position that Boeing is creating, Pope will oversee the performance of the three business units with responsibility for driving supply chain, quality, manufacturing and engineering excellence, the company said in a statement. Management movements are closely watched at the biggest US exporter as Calhoun, who took over as CEO in 2019, approaches his retirement age. Boeing has emerged from several tumultuous years, following the grounding of its mainstay 737 MAX model, and then the pandemic that disabled air traffic around the world and disrupted supply lines. Pope would be the first woman to run Boeing, which also has a major defense subsidiary. The business she oversees, which provides services ranging from analytical tools for airlines to remodeling older passenger jets into air-cargo-haulers, was the only of the three main subsidiaries to report a profit in the third quarter, while the Defense & Space business and the Commercial Airplanes division had losses.<br/>