Harry Stonecipher

Harry Stonecipher is President and Chief Executive of Boeing, the aerospace giant.

Stonecipher was President and Chief Executive of McDonnell Douglas prior to its merger with Boeing in 1997, he remained on the board following the successful completion of that transaction.

His predecessor as Boeing CEO, Phil Condit, resigned in Decemeber 2003 following scandals over defense procurement. These scandals surrounded allegations of stolen documents from competitors and the hiring of a government procurement officer who at the time was involved in the USAF's KC-767 contract, a contract of extreme importance to Boeing.

Stonecipher has recently reignited the argument over the subsidies paid by European governments to the partner companies of Airbus. He argues that subsidies which were designed to allow the fledgling company to challenge the dominance of Boeing are not acceptable in the current context, where Airbus has overtaken Boeing in orders/deliveries for the first time and is profitable. In the past Airbus has argued that the pork barrel contracts awarded to Boeing (e.g. KC-767) constitute subsidy.