A Final Goodbye to Boeing

To my Boeing Family (and I truly mean all employees of the Boeing company),

Over the past few weeks, I have been agonizing over how to write this short post.

On July 29th, I officially moved forward from my time at Boeing.

If you’ll indulge me, I’d like to reflect on what this company --and more importantly, the people—have meant to me. I joined Boeing just about four years ago with a mission to change our veteran community, specifically to aid our veterans and their families' struggles with transition, mental and physical health, and suicide prevention. I also endeavored to bridge the gap between the military and civilians. Within my first week, Tim Keating agreed to my recommendation for Boeing to become the presenting sponsor of the Warrior Games in Chicago (2017). I asked for 2 million dollars and a dedicated team for ten months to support The Navy, City of Chicago, and the Boeing vision.

The result? Twenty thousand fans at Soldier Field (ahh, pre-COVID days), Jon Stewart as our emcee, the Service Chiefs or Secretaries in attendance, over 250 athletes from nations around the globe, and most importantly, a week with dozens of different VSO partners supporting our athletes and the community. Right away, Boeing walked the walk. 

It has never been about the dollars; it is about the impact.

As a full-fledged adult, I am not ashamed to say I grew up during my time at Boeing. After my time as the Director of Veteran Outreach, I moved to the Commercial Airplanes business in Seattle, working for Kevin McAllister, former CEO and President of Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA) as his Chief of Staff. I knew nothing about airplanes, and I thought that they had made a mistake in hiring me. Nonetheless, I was excited about a big challenge. Over the first few months, I spent a lot of time reading, studying, asking questions, and listening.

I worked around some of the world’s most brilliant minds. I quickly learned that our success was impacted daily by the environment, geopolitical actions, supplier health and quality, unions, and of course, pandemics. I learned the great responsibility we hold to our people and our customers. I realized the meaning of commitment and how one action can dictate the course of a relationship for the next decade. I also came to understand U.S. manufacturing’s pride and how important it is to build and grow it on a global scale. Like the rest of my Boeing colleagues around the globe, I absorbed these important lessons through long nights spent working and weekends in the office. Though, I can tell you this: it never felt like a burden. To me, it was simply a necessity to accomplish a mission that I believed in.

Beyond the mission, there was something else that made the Boeing Company tick. Something that I considered the heartbeat of Boeing, and that was its people. Over the past few years, Boeing has been critiqued – and frankly, sometimes attacked -- in ways that forced us to take an in-depth look into our culture and our processes. Some of these critiques were warranted, and many were not. But what never got spotlighted is the core character of the Boeing people. How much pride we take in our work, the hours of passion we dedicate to providing the best product possible, and how we strive to transform the world.

At Boeing, I always felt at home. I am forever changed because of the people who make up the Boeing company. And when I say, the people who make up Boeing, I mean from factory floors, to supply chain management, from corner offices to cubicles, and industry events across the globe. That is the heartbeat of Boeing.

Thank you, Kevin McAllister, for believing in me to take a prominent role as your Chief of Staff and for the two years of working closely together all over the world. Thank you, Ihssane, for your friendship and mentorship. Thank you, Jennifer Lowe, for your guidance, leadership, and, most importantly, for your friendship. Finally, thank you, Tim Keating, for everything. You brought me in, and I was your guy.  You taught me so much about life -- you are family.

Finally, thank you, Boeing, for moving the world and connecting families and businesses across the globe. Thank you for protecting me and our military at home and in every corner of the world. Thank you for being a leader and an example when it comes to serving our communities.  

For me, it is time to move on and I cannot express how excited I am for the next chapter starting this August with Microsoft.

Signing out,

Flo