Head of Boeing 737 programme out in leadership shakeup

Boeing 737 program vice president and general manager for the Renton site Ed Clark is leaving his position following nearly 18 years of service as the company grapples with safety and production issues. In an email sent to company employees from Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA) CEO Stand Deal, it was revealed that Clark's removal will be effective immediately. The leadership changes come as the company drives an ""enhanced focus on ensuring that every airplane we deliver meets or exceeds all quality and safety requirements,"" Deal said in the email. He added: ""Our customers demand, and deserve, nothing less."" Clark will be replaced by Katie Ringgold, who had previously served as 737 delivery operations vice president. In a continued changeup of leadership, Elizabeth Lund has been named in the newly created role of senior vice president of BCA Quality, having previously served as the company's Airplane Program senior vice president and general manager. Lund has extensive leadership experience at Boeing and oversaw several of its aircraft programmes. She will continue to serve as chair of the Boeing quality operations council and will continue reporting to Deal. Boeing vice president of total quality Carole Murray will now report to Lund. Mike Fleming will replace and work closely with Lund, and will continue leading its customer support team. Fleming will report to Deal and will serve on the executive council as chair of the program management operations council. Don Ruhmann will replace Fleming as the company's development programs vice president, reporting to Deal, and had previously served as the 787 chief project engineer. Both Ruhmann and Ringgold's replacements are to be announced at a later date. The leadership changes follow a mid-flight door plug blowout on an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 aircraft in January, 2024. Following this, there have been several production concerns highlighted surrounding Boeing's 737 programme as well as the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) temporarily grounding and setting a production cap on the aircraft.