Boeing under Phil Condit

Condit was born on August 2, 1941, in California. From a young age he was an aviation enthusiast, and earned his pilot license at the age of 18. In 1963, he received his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of California, and in 1965, a master's degree in aeronautical engineering from Princeton University. Soon after receiving his master's, he joined Boeing as an aerodynamics engineer on the prestigious Supersonic Transport (SST) project. The project was aborted due to lack of federal support in the early 1970s and Condit moved on to other assignments like the development of the Boeing 747, the short haul development systems program and the marketing of the 727 plane...

In 1997, a manufacturing crisis, coupled with the depression in Asian markets (on which Boeing was heavily dependent), resulted in huge losses for the company. Realizing the dangers of being overly dependent on one category of business (commercial aircraft), Boeing began diversifying into space, military and missiles. Under Condit, Boeing acquired Rockwell International Corporation's (Rockwell) aerospace and defense units (1996), McDonnell Douglas (1997), the space and communication business of Hughes Electronics Corporation (Hughes in 2000) and Jeppesen Sanderson Inc. (2000). These acquisitions established Boeing as a diversified aerospace company and reduced its dependence on the volatile commercial aircraft market...