Boeing

The Boeing Company today named Walt W. Braithwaite as president of Boeing Africa. Naming Braithwaite to this newly created post, is part of the company's effort to broaden its global reach and vision by establishing offices and operations in many areas of the world.

In this new position, Braithwaite will play a corporate ambassadorial role to the region, representing the company to governments, businesses, media and regional communities. In addition, he will be responsible for providing in-region support to company operating group executives for Aircraft & Missiles Systems, Space & Communications and Commercial Airplanes business activities in the Sub-Sahara region.

Braithwaite will report to Harry Stonecipher, Boeing president and chief operating officer. He will initially establish offices in South Africa and Ghana.

"The Boeing Company's vision is to grow its presence in many regions of the world. Walt is the right person for this position and I'm certain he will do an excellent job in becoming the face of Boeing in a very dynamic region of the world," Stonecipher said.

"I look forward to representing our company and working with the operating groups and Company Offices to identify opportunities for increasing our markets in the region and to demonstrate our local presence through good corporate citizenship," Braithwaite said of his appointment.

Braithwaite joined Boeing in 1966 as an associate tool engineer in the company's Fabrication Division. Since that time, Braithwaite has held a variety of increasingly responsible positions, most recently as vice president, Company Offices Administration, a post he has held since 1997.

Many of the positions Braithwaite has held during his 34-year career have involved engineering, computer-aided design and manufacturing, information systems development and program management. Prior to his most recent assignment, Braithwaite served as vice president of Information and Support Services, where he was responsible for leading company-wide, cross-functional activities for successful deploying distributed computing, information systems security, and disaster preparedness. In March 1993 he was vice president of Commercial Airplanes Information Systems with responsibility for all computing used in design, manufacturing and support of commercial airplanes. Prior to that he served as vice president on Boeing Commercial Airplanes Information Systems and Architecture. He also has held director of Program Management positions and various chief and lead engineer positions in Commercial Airplanes.

In 1997, Braithwaite was appointed to serve a second three-year term on the Commission of Physical Sciences, Mathematics and Applications of the National Research Council, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering. He is also one of 21 business representatives appointed to the U.S. Department of Commerce Advisory Committee on Africa.

He has been honored by the American Institute of Manufacturing Technology for outstanding technical contributions to the science of computer integrated technology. His list of honors also includes awards from the National Institute of Standards and Technology for leadership and contributions to the development of the Initial Graphics Exchange Specification and Product Data Exchange Specification. In February 1995, Braithwaite was selected Black Engineer of the Year by the Council of Engineering Deans of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Mobil Corporation and U.S. Black Engineer Magazine. This award was for his accomplishments and contributions both to technology and the community.

Braithwaite graduated from the American Institute of Engineering and Technology in 1965 with a bachelor's degree in engineering. He received a master's degree in computer science from the University of Washington and also earned a master's degree in business management from a 1980-81 Sloan Fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1998, he was awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree from the University of the West Indies.

Braithwaite was born in Kingston, Jamaica and was raised and educated in Kingston and in London.

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