Ted Colbert. Photo: Boeing

Ted Colbert, the head of Boeing‘s Boeing Defense, Space & Security (BDS) segment for more than two years, is leaving the company amid significant profitability worries, competition from startup defense firms and hybrid powerhouses, and a paring back of the segment’s overhead spending for items like work-related personnel travel.

Colbert became president and CEO of BDS in March 2022, replacing Leanne Caret who retired after 28 years with Boeing. A Baltimore native, Colbert joined Boeing in 2009 and worked his way up from the company’s information technology department.

Boeing’s defense business has struggled with cost overruns on a number of its fixed-price development programs, such as the U.S. Air Force KC-46A Pegasus tanker, that the company won in the mid-2010s.

Steve Parker, the chief operating officer of BDS and an employee of Boeing for more than 36 years, is to oversee the segment temporarily until Boeing names a replacement.

“At this critical juncture, our priority is to restore the trust of our customers and meet the high standards they expect of us to enable their critical missions around the world,” Boeing President and CEO Kelly Ortberg wrote in a message to company employees about Colbert’s departure. “Working together we can and will improve our performance and ensure we deliver on our commitments.”

This article was first published by Defense Daily