User:Jphan02/Theodore Colbert III

Theodore Colbert III (born 1973) is a businessman, engineer, and the current Chief Executive Officer for Boeing Defense, Space & Security, a subdivision at The Boeing Company. He has served in the position since March 2022. Previously, he served as the CEO of Boeing Global Services, and prior to that, he served as the Chief Information Officer at The Boeing Company.

He is a member of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Users’ Advisory Group and won the Black Engineer of the Year Award in 2022 at the 36th Annual BEYA (Black Engineer of the Year Awards) STEM Conference.

Childhood
Colbert spent his childhood in Baltimore, Maryland. He was a three-sport athlete in high school with aspirations of becoming a lawyer or politician, which were superseded by his interest in technology. During his childhood, he had a Commodore 64, an 8-bit home computer, that furthered his fascination with technology, and which he used for programming. As a result of his high grades in math and science, his high school teachers encouraged him to pursue this passion and study engineering.

Family
Colbert’s father worked in labor relations for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the National Labor Relations Board. His mother was a social worker.

Education
Colbert's decision to attend Morehouse College was influenced by his enjoyment of the 1980s sitcom “A Different World”, which was about life at a fictional historically black college. Colbert was also drawn to the dual degree engineering program offered by Morehouse and Georgia Tech. Colbert graduated with bachelor of science degrees in Industrial and Systems Engineering and Interdisciplinary Science.

Career
After graduation, Colbert worked at the Ford Motor Company, where he joined the fast-track Ford College Graduate Program in the Information Technology department. After working 11 years at Ford, he began working for Citigroup, serving as the senior vice president of Enterprise Architecture. In 2009, he joined Boeing, serving as their chief information officer until he was named president and chief executive officer of global services in 2019. At Boeing, he managed Boeing’s international commercial aerospace development, delivery, and distribution operations.

In March 2022, Boeing announced that Colbert would take over the role of president and chief executive of Boeing Defense, Space and Security from Leanne Caret, who retired after working at Boeing for 28 years.

Colbert stated that his top priorities with Boeing are driving stability and predictability and that successful advancement of these goals will require a well-trained workforce and resolutions to supply chain issues. To this end, Colbert and Boeing Defense hired 10,000 employees in 2022 and claimed to have plans to hire another 15,000 people in 2023. Under Colbert, Boeing Defense has worked with the U.S. Air Force on the escape system for the T-7, with test results appearing very positive.

As CIO at Boeing, Colbert launched the Analytic Lab for Aerospace Data at Carnegie Mellon University. While working in the IT department, he developed the network, computing, server, storage, collaboration, and infrastructure solutions for Boeing. He also spent time managing Boeing computer application systems that supported internal systems, Boeing Finance, Human Resources, and Corporate and Commercial Capital Business sections.

Current

 * Board member, Archer-Daniels-Midland Company
 * Vice-chairman of the board, Aerospace Industries Association
 * Board member, Thurgood Marshall College Fund
 * Board member, Virginia Tech
 * Board chair, New Leaders
 * Board member, Association of the United States Army
 * Board member, District of Columbia College Access Program

Other Memberships

 * Member, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Gamma Lambda Chapter
 * Member, National Aeronautics and Space Administration Users’ Advisory Group

Awards

 * Fisher Center Prize for Excellence in Driving Transformation, Berkeley Haas School of Business
 * Power 100 Honoree (2015), Ebony
 * Transformational CIO Award Winner (2016), HMG Strategy
 * Golden Torch Legacy Award Winner (2016), National Society of Black Engineers
 * Bennie Leadership Award for Excellence in Business (2017), Morehouse College
 * CIO Innovation Award (2018), Forbes
 * Most Influential Black Executives in Corporate America (2020, 2022), Savoy Magazine
 * Most Influential Black Corporate Directors (2021), Savoy Magazine
 * Leadership Winner (2021), Capital ORBIE Awards
 * Black Engineer of Year Award (2022)

China
In September 2022, Foreign Ministry of China spokesperson, Mao Ning, announced at a press briefing that China has imposed sanctions on Colbert and Raytheon Technologies CEO Gregory J. Hayes, in response to the U.S. arms sale to Taiwan. Ning stated that the two would be sanctioned to protect China’s autonomy and security interests, but did not give further details on what the sanctions would be.

Russia
In November 2022, Colbert was sanctioned by the Russian Federation, along with 199 other Americans, in response to sanctions issued by the Biden Administration over the war in Ukraine.