Howard McKenzie

Chief Engineer and Executive Vice President, Engineering, Test & Technology Boeing

Last Reviewed: October 3, 2026

Executive Summary

Howard McKenzie is Boeing’s chief engineer and executive vice president of Engineering, Test & Technology, roles he has held since March 2023. He leads an engineering function of more than 60,000 engineers worldwide and oversees the design, development, test and certification of Boeing’s products, its technology strategy and the engineering design behind product integrity and safety. He started in 1987 as an engineering intern at Douglas Aircraft, later merged into Boeing, and has been chief project engineer for the 777, head of test and evaluation and chief engineer of both the commercial airplanes and services businesses. He has spent nearly four decades in engineering at one company, from intern to its chief engineer.

Career Highlights

• Chief Engineer and Executive Vice President, Engineering, Test & Technology since March 2023.
• Vice President and Chief Engineer of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, 2021 to 2023.
• Vice President and Chief Engineer of Boeing Global Services, 2020 to 2021.
• Vice President and Chief Project Engineer for the 777 program, 2017 to 2019.

Professional Journey

McKenzie earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. He joined Douglas Aircraft Company, now part of Boeing, as an engineering intern in 1987.

Over his Boeing career he held engineering roles across the company. From October 2017 to June 2019 he was vice president and chief project engineer for the 777 program, responsible for product integrity and safety across the worldwide 777 fleet. He then led Boeing Test and Evaluation as vice president from 2019 to 2020.

He was vice president and chief engineer of Boeing Global Services from June 2020 to August 2021 and of Boeing Commercial Airplanes from August 2021 to March 2023.

In March 2023 he became chief engineer of The Boeing Company and executive vice president of Engineering, Test & Technology. In that role he oversees design, development, test and certification, sets the technology vision, and leads an organization Boeing describes as an incubator for future urban, regional and global mobility businesses. He holds technical awards and patents, is active in STEM education and serves as Boeing’s executive focal for UC Berkeley. Boeing builds commercial airplanes and defense, space and security systems and provides aerospace services, and employs about 182,000 people, according to the company.

The engineering function he leads spans all three of Boeing’s businesses, commercial airplanes, defense, space and security, and global services, and includes responsibility for product integrity and safety in design. Don Ruhmann, Boeing’s chief aerospace safety officer, who is accountable to the board’s Aerospace Safety Committee, also spent much of his engineering career on the 777.

Education

University of California, Berkeley

Bachelor of Science, Mechanical Engineering