Boeing corporate attorney Uma Amuluru, a former White House counsel, will succeed Michael D ’Ambrose as the company’s chief human resources officer, effective on 1 April.
The US airframer disclosed the shift on 22 February, noting that D’Ambrose, a former executive at US corporate Archer-Daniels-Midland who has held the Boeing role since 2020, plans to retire in July.
News of the change came one day after Boeing revealed a larger management shake up involving the departure of Ed Clark, vice-president and general manager of the 737 programme.
Amuluru has been vice-president and general counsel of Boeing Defence, Space & Security since early 2023. Earlier, she was Boeing’s first chief compliance officer and the company’s executive council.
“Uma is a superb leader with a strong track record of building terrific teams and strengthening complex organisations,” says Boeing chief executive David Calhoun. “Continuing to invest in our 170,000 employees around the world will be a priority as their actions, voices and ideas make it possible for us to bolster our quality and earn confidence with key stakeholders.”
Amuluru joined Boeing in 2017 after holding several high-level government jobs. She has been associate White House counsel under President Barack Obama, counsellor to the US attorney general, and a federal prosecutor.
Calhoun says Amuluru has “deep knowledge of our company and its people”, making her “ideally suited to lead our efforts to support and develop our global workforce as we focus on Boeing’s path forward”.
The chief human resources role involves overseeing Boeing’s talent planning, staff training, labour relations, diversity, compensation and benefits.
Boeing faces notable labour challenges after losing many skilled workers during the Covid-19 pandemic. The company has since hired replacements, but many new workers have far less experience.
“We had a lot of tribal knowledge, and a lot of carried-on knowledge from generation to generation, and then there was a break, and the folks who came in don’t have that benefit,” Boeing vice-president of global supply chain Ihssane Mounir said in February during a aerospace supplier conference near Seattle.
Sources say some of Boeing’s quality and production troubles in recent years partly reflect issues stemming from less experienced workers.
D’Ambrose joined Boeing in 2020 after working for nearly 14 years as chief human resources officer for Archer-Daniels-Midland.
