Chief of 777 Jetliner Effort Named President of Boeing

Boeing Co. on Monday named the veteran engineer who headed its 777 jetliner program as president of the company, filling a job that has been vacant since 1988.

Phil Condit, 51, was also named to the board of directors.

Frank Shrontz, chairman and chief executive, declined to say whether Condit would succeed him. Shrontz, 61, is due to retire in four years.

“No commitments; I plan to be around for quite a few years, so I don’t think it’s timely to talk about that final change,” he said. But he did say it was a good idea to be “broadening people like Phil for an eventual opportunity to take over.”

Condit has been one of the standouts of Boeing Commercial Airplane group, landing the assignment of executive vice president and general manager of what would become the 777 Division in December, 1989. Before that, he was an executive vice president in charge of Commercial Airplane’s manufacturing, engineering, product development, customer services and government liaison for more than three years.

In developing the 777, Boeing has stressed improvement in quality, worked to break down internal barriers between departments and made an unprecedented effort to bring potential customers in early to help with the aircraft’s design.

The 777, which would seat up to 440 passengers, is due to be introduced in 1995. The world’s largest passenger plane, Boeing’s 747-400, can carry 412 passengers.

“I’m convinced by my own experience of what we’ve done on the 777 that that focus on the customer results in a better product, results in better services and it results in a more profitable company,” Condit said.

Shrontz said he wanted Condit to help with strategic thinking and to oversee the operations of Boeing’s three major corporate divisions.

Reporting to Condit will be Boeing’s three product organizations: Commercial Airplanes, Defense & Space group, and Boeing Computer Services.

Also reporting to Condit will be the senior vice presidents in charge of engineering and operations companywide and the corporate vice president of continuous quality improvement.

Alan Mulally, 47, takes over as head of the 777 program. He had been vice president and general manager of the 777 Division.