Boeing's top lobbyist Ojakli departing planemaker, CEO tells employees

Boeing Co.'s chief lobbyist and the head of its powerful Washington, DC operation, Ziad "Z" Ojakli, has left the company, Chief Executive Officer Kelly Ortberg told employees in a memo on Friday.

Bill McSherry a Boeing vice president for state and local government operations, will temporarily oversee the planemaker's government operations group until the company finds a successor, Ortberg said in a memo viewed by Bloomberg. The change is effective immediately.

Politico reported the leadership shake-up stemmed from a disagreement with Ortberg over lobbying strategy, citing a person close to Ojakli. A Boeing spokeswoman declined to comment.

Ojakli is the fourth member of Boeing's executive council to step down since Ortberg took over as CEO in early August. He's been working to turn around the planemaker after years of scandal and turmoil, along with a series of crises this year that began when a door-shaped plug blew out of an airborne 737 Max in early January.

Ojakli, a former top Ford Motor Co. lobbyist, joined Boeing in a similar role in 2021 and by some accounts faced a bumpy transition, that was marked by staff departures and lost relationships with some key lawmakers. The company has weathered a bipartisan bashing by US lawmakers over its quality and safety lapses this year, including a grilling of former CEO Dave Calhoun by a Senate subcommittee.

Boeing's in the process of reducing staffing by 10%, or about 17,000 jobs, with Ortberg saying the job cuts would be felt at all levels of the company.

Other senior leaders who've left Boeing include former defense division chief Ted Colbert and Brian Besanceney, the company's communications chief. Elizabeth Lund, a senior vice president in charge of quality for Boeing's commercial airplanes division, has said she'll retire in December.