Good morning. As a new employee, you never truly understand a company’s culture unless you experience it firsthand. For Boeing Chief Financial Officer Jay Malaf, it’s been more than three months and he’s ready to provide an assessment.
After a series of aircraft failures, manage challenges, and strike Boeing will add more than 33,000 mechanics by 2024 and has seen significant changes in its executive leadership over the past year. Malave started as executive vice president and chief financial officer on Aug. 15, succeeding Brian West, who had served as chief financial officer for four years. Kelly Ortberg Becomes President and CEO of Boeing Company in August 2024.
Speaking at the UBS Global Industrial and Transportation Conference on Tuesday, Malaf said he had already benefited from the cultural changes Ortberg had driven when he joined the company.
“What I saw was a really dedicated workforce, a very strong management team with a can-do attitude,” Malaf said. Management’s focus is on improvement, making Boeing better every day, he said. “To me, that’s very important because it’s the hallmark of a performance culture and one of the things you look for when you join a company,” Malaf said. “You never really know what it’s like to work at a company from the outside.”
He describes “proactive management” as a leadership team that is “willing to roll up their sleeves, get their hands dirty, help solve problems and be part of the solution — that’s exactly what I see at Boeing,” he said. “I’m the kind of person who likes to get into the details and focus on how to solve problems rather than just observing them. From my perspective, I’ve been able to transition into this environment very easily.”
At Boeing (No. 63 Among Fortune 500), Malave leads financial organizationand Strategy, Business Planning, Global Real Estate, where he is a member of the company’s Executive Committee. He most recently served as Chief Financial Officer of Lockheed Martin Corporation and previously served at L3 Harris Technologies. He also spent more than 20 years at United Technologies Corporation (UTC), including serving as chief financial officer when Carrier was a division of UTC.
Boeing returns to positive cash flow path
During the conversation, Malaf also outlined Boeing’s financial restructuring plan. He expects the company to return to positive free cash flow in 2026, reaching the low single digits of $1 billion. That depends on ramping up production of the 737 Max and 787 Dreamliner and getting rid of inventory of undelivered aircraft.
Malave said next year will be the start of Boeing’s rebuild toward its long-term target of $10 billion in annual cash generation, and that increasing productivity is key to achieving that ambition. The outlook marked a significant improvement from expected free cash outflows of about $2 billion in 2025, and his comments helped Boeing shares rise nearly 10% on Tuesday.
Risks and opportunities – Beidou system has no “hand grenades”
In July, Boeing veteran Stephen Parker was named president and CEO of the defense, space and security (BDS) business after serving as interim leader until September 2024. Malave is temporarily separated from BDS due to his recent role at Lockheed Martin, and Boeing has formally agreed that he will not be involved in BDS activities until the end of the year to avoid potential conflicts of interest with his former employer.
Malaf emphasized that once he is able to participate in Beidou investment, he does not intend to disrupt the product portfolio. “I think investors are going to be anxious once Jay Malave gets the rights to the BDS projects and all these projects are going to set off a bunch of grenades,” he said. “I’m here to learn,” he added. “In any project, there’s going to be risk and there’s going to be opportunity. My job is: How do I help them mitigate the risk, how do I help them realize the opportunity? I don’t come with a mandate or an agenda to throw grenades at different projects.”
CherylEstrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com
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