Boeing

The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) has named Michael Bair executive vice president of its Commercial Aviation Services business in Commercial Airplanes. Bair succeeds Thomas Schick, who retired in April.

As executive vice president for Commercial Aviation Services, Bair is responsible for the overall strategy and resources supporting the world's largest fleet of commercial jetliners - almost 12,000 airplanes - while earning the respect of Boeing customers every day as the industry's leader for after-delivery service.

The resources under Bair's direction include more than 11,000 people worldwide who provide 24-hour technical support, spare parts, modification and engineering services, digital information products, customer training, and other valuable services for more than 800 Boeing operators. In addition, Bair has oversight responsibility for the Boeing Business Jet program.

"Our airline customers are looking to Boeing for innovative services and solutions to help them further improve their business performance," said Alan Mulally, Boeing Commercial Airplanes president and CEO. "Boeing has the unique global system knowledge and talent to help our customers further develop a safe and more efficient global air transportation system. Commercial Aviation Services has developed a strong portfolio of products and services and is positioned to be a major contributor to the growth of Commercial Airplanes. Mike's broad range of leadership experience in engineering, airplane programs, sales and marketing will bring a valuable addition to a strong CAS team. His demonstrated working together skills also will help to ensure that Commercial Aviation Services and the Airplane Programs seamlessly develop and deliver integrated solutions to our customers."

Since October 2000, Bair had been vice president of Business Strategy and Marketing for Boeing Commercial Airplanes. This position focused on strategically marketing the future products and services of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Prior to this, Bair headed Marketing Management for Commercial Airplane Programs. He also served as vice president and general manager of Boeing Commercial Airplanes 757 Programs, where he was responsible for design, production and profit/loss of the Boeing 757 family of airplanes.

Bair began his career with Boeing in 1979 as an engineer in the 767 aircraft noise organization. He was promoted into his first management assignment in 1984 as a senior analyst in Marketing's Product Strategy Analysis organization. He held various positions during his Marketing tenure, concluding as program manager for all models of the Boeing jetliner family, with responsibility for coordinating the overall product strategy.

Other leadership positions include:

• Director of Engineering for the 777 Program, responsible for managing all aspects of design for the Boeing 777.
• Vice president of Product Strategy and Development for Boeing Commercial Airplanes, leading a team of 300 people responsible for the product strategy and development of all Boeing airplanes, with the goal of offering superior value to customers.
• Director of Airplane Configuration, leading a team responsible for determining the configurations of each customer's airplane.
• 777 chief project engineer - Airline Requirements and Performance, overseeing marketing, customer engineering and overall airplane performance.
• Regional director - North American Sales, with responsibility for several Boeing airline customers, including American Airlines.
• Manager of Executive Communications, which develops, coordinates and communicates Commercial Airplanes policies and positions to customers and other external audiences.

A graduate of Washington State University in 1978 with a bachelor of science degree in physics, Bair also received a master's degree in business administration from the University of Puget Sound in 1982. He graduated from the Alfred P. Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, becoming a 1993 Sloan Fellow and receiving his second master's degree.