Jim McNerney (MBA ’75) departed GE in 2000 to become, at 3M, a chief executive for the first time. Named chairman, president, and CEO of The Boeing Company in July, McNerney is the aerospace giant’s third leader since 2003, a period during which Boeing has been buffeted by procurement and regulatory issues, as well as intense competition from Europe’s Airbus.

“The task here is growth,” said McNerney of his new assignment at Chicago-based Boeing. “That’s the thing we’ve got to get right over the next couple of years” (Chicago Tribune, July 1, 2005).

A member of Boeing’s board when he was tapped for its top spot, McNerney also has industry experience from his days at General Electric, where he was chief of GE’s aircraft-engine division and was involved inits commercial-aircraft leasing and financing services. Of Boeing’s role in national security as a developer of weapons and defense systems, McNerney said, “You do feel that obligation intensely on the defense and space side of our business.”

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