As a new hire, you never really know what a company’s culture is until you experience it from the inside. For Boeing CFO Jay Malave, it’s been just over three months — and he’s ready to make an assessment.
Following a series of aircraft failures, management challenges and a strike by more than 33,000 workers in 2024, Boeing has undergone significant changes to its executive leadership over the past year. Malave began his tenure as executive vice president and CFO on August 15, succeeding Brian West, who held the role for four years. Kelly Ortberg became president and CEO of Boeing in August 2024.
Also read:
Continues after advertising
Speaking on Tuesday, 2, at the UBS Global Industrials and Transportation Conference, Malave said that, when he arrived at the company, he was already reaping the fruits of the cultural changes that Ortberg had put into practice.
“What I saw was a really engaged team, very strong leadership — people with a ‘let’s make it happen’ attitude,” said Malave.
Management is focused on evolving and making Boeing better every day, he said. “For me, this is extremely important, because it is a sign of a performance culture, and that is one of the things you look for when joining a company,” he said. “From the outside, you can never be sure what it’s really like to work inside.”
He described “active management” as a leadership team “willing to roll up their sleeves, get their hands dirty, help solve problems and be part of the solutions — and that’s exactly what I see here at Boeing,” he said.
“I’m the type who likes to get into the details, focus on how to solve a problem rather than just observing it. From my point of view, I was able to adapt quite easily to an environment like that.”
At Boeing (No. 63 on the Fortune 500), Malave leads the financial area, in addition to strategy, business planning, global real estate, and is also a member of the company’s executive board.
Continues after advertising
He was most recently CFO at Lockheed Martin and prior to that held senior finance roles at L3Harris Technologies. He also spent more than 20 years at United Technologies (UTC), including serving as CFO of Carrier Corporation when it was a division of UTC.
Boeing’s path back to positive cash flow
During the conversation, Malave also outlined a financial recovery for Boeing. He expects the company to return to positive free cash flow in 2026, in the range of a few billion dollars. This depends on increased production of the 737 Max and 787 Dreamliner, in addition to the delivery of stock of jets already produced.
Malave described next year as the beginning of rebuilding toward Boeing’s historic goal of generating $10 billion a year in cash, with higher production cadences a key element.
Continues after advertising
The projection marks a significant improvement from the expected negative cash flow of about $2 billion in 2025 — and his comments helped lift Boeing shares nearly 10% on Tuesday.
Defense and security
In July, Boeing veteran Stephen Parker was named president and CEO of the Defense, Space and Security division (BDS, do original Boeing Defense, Space e Security)after serving as interim leader since September 2024.
Malave is temporarily removed from BDS activities due to his previous role at Lockheed Martin, and Boeing has formally agreed that he will not participate in BDS-related matters until the end of the year, to avoid possible conflicts of interest with his former employer.
Continues after advertising
Malave emphasized that he does not intend to cause disruptions in the BDS program portfolio when he is able to work there.
“I think there’s some anxiety from investors that when I get access to the BDS program, there’s going to be a bunch of ‘grenades’ going off in a lot of projects,” he said. “I’m going there to learn.”
He added: “With any program, there will always be risks and opportunities. My job will be: How can I help mitigate risks and seize opportunities? I’m not coming in with a mandate or an agenda to throw grenades at any program.”
Continues after advertising
2025 Fortune Media IP Limited
