Boeing Hires Former Lockheed Martin Executive as Next CFO

Boeing President and CEO Kelly Ortberg, who has been in the aerospace and defense industry giant’s top post for 10 months, continued to reshuffle his leadership team with the hiring of a new chief financial officer.

Boeing announced on June 30 that it has elected former Lockheed Martin CFO Jesus “Jay” Malave as its executive vice president and next CFO, replacing current CFO Brian West, who has held the role for the past four years and will now serve as a senior adviser to Ortberg.

As the company’s new CFO, Malave will lead Boeing’s financial strategy, reporting, long-range business planning, investor relations, treasury, controller, and audit operations, as well as Enterprise Services, which includes global real estate and facilities. He will report to Ortberg and serve on the company’s Executive Council. In his downsized role, West will assist with Malave’s transition.

“These past few years have been some of the most consequential in Boeing’s history, and Brian successfully guided us through last year’s historic capital raise and ensured our team always had the resources to continue the critical work to strengthen safety and quality across our operations. I look forward to his continued counsel in his new role,” Ortberg said, noting that executive suite changes will take place on Aug. 15.

The election of Malave by Boeing’s board of directors comes as the company continues to grapple with financial losses. According to its financial report, the aerospace and defense contractor posted a net loss of $37 million, or $0.49 per share, in the first quarter—marking its fifth consecutive quarterly loss.

As of the end of the first quarter, the company held $56.6 billion in debt.

Over the past few years, Boeing has faced multiple accidents and incidents involving its aircraft. The Federal Aviation Administration grounded the Boeing 737 MAX jets for nearly two years after two fatal crashes in late 2018 and early 2019. The latest accident occurred on June 12, when an Air India Boeing 787 bound for London with 242 people on board crashed, leaving only one survivor.

The company has also seen a recent spike in aircraft orders and deliveries. The Pentagon in March awarded the company a $20 billion contract to develop the F-47, which Ortberg said has reinvigorated the company’s 170,000-plus-person workforce.

The F-47 is the Air Force’s first sixth-generation fighter aircraft, which is expected to replace the F-22 program. Boeing beat out rival Lockheed Martin for the Department of Defense’s next-generation fighter jet aircraft.

“Jay will become CFO at an important time in helping build Boeing’s next chapter as we continue to make progress on our recovery and implement fundamental changes rooted in safety and quality,” Ortberg said.

“He is a well-respected financial and business leader and brings decades of experience developing people and teams across complex aerospace and manufacturing businesses.”

As noted, Malave was most recently the CFO of Lockheed Martin and before that held the positions of senior vice president and CFO at L3Harris Technologies.

He spent more than 20 years in the defense industry after earning a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of Connecticut, a master’s in accounting from the University of Hartford, and a Juris Doctor from the University of Connecticut School of Law.

Andrew Moran contributed to this report.