GE Aviation announced Monday (15 June) that that David Joyce, vice chairman of GE and president and CEO of GE Aviation, will retire from the company after 40 years of service and announced that John Slattery, Embraer’s president and CEO of Commercial Aviation, has been named president- and CEO-elect of GE Aviation, effective 13 July. At GE Aviation Slattery will be responsible for commercial and military jet engines and services as well as avionics, digital solutions, and electrical power systems for aircraft. Embraer meanwhile, said it was starting a new “restructuring process” with the reintegration of the commercial aviation business following a failed merger with Boeing and named Arjan Meijer as the new president and CEO of Embraer Commercial Aviation.
GE Chairman and CEO H. Lawrence Culp, Jr said “we worked hard to find a worthy successor to David. In John, we have found a proven aerospace leader whose international commercial experience, strategic acumen, and industry expertise can make our leading Aviation franchise even stronger. John’s relentless focus on the customer experience over decades in the aviation industry has earned him deep relationships with many of GE’s customers, suppliers, and partners. He is well-suited to serve their needs as Aviation executes through the current environment and eventual recovery.”
Slattery led Embraer’s largest business, Commercial Aviation, typically accounting for over half of the Group’s revenue and free cash flow as well as about 10,000 of its 18,000 employees. During his tenure at Embraer Commercial Aviation, the E-Jet installed base doubled, the number of operators grew by 45 percent, the unit backlog grew by 36 percent, and the number of countries operating the E-Jet increased by 39 percent. As chief commercial officer and subsequently CEO of Commercial Aviation, Slattery was responsible for the business plan for the E2 through triple-certification of the E190-E2 in 2018, ahead of schedule, better than original technical specification, and under budget. He previously served as Embraer’s senior vice president of customer finance, risk, and asset management. Prior to joining Embraer in 2011, Slattery spent 15 years in the aircraft financing and leasing space, where he developed deep financial understanding of airline operations and a large network of aerospace professionals that he continued to engage at Embraer.
Slattery said “I have long considered GE Aviation to be the leading aviation franchise in the world, and I am humbled to take the helm from David and lead this talented team forward. This is a time of unprecedented change in the aerospace industry yet also an opportunity to reimagine the future of flight and how we can best serve our customers.”
Embraer, meanwhile, said in a statement Monday that it had started a “restructuring process” that would see it reintegrate the commercial aviation business following a failed merger with Boeing and named Arjan Meijer as the new president and CEO of Embraer Commercial Aviation, who will report to Embraer President and CEO Francisco Gomes Neto. Meijer, 47, has been chief commercial officer of Embraer Commercial Aviation since January 2017. In his role as CCO at the company, he has been responsible for the global marketing and sales functions across six different regions, helping the company to achieve 35 airline deals. He joined the company in April 2016 as vice president of Commercial Aviation for Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Russia.
Prior to joining Embraer, Meijer spent 15 years in various executive roles at the KLM Group. His last two roles were vice president of Technical Services and Fleet Development at KLM’s regional subsidiary KLM Cityhopper and managing director at KLM UK Engineering in Norwich. Arjan earned a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering from Delft Technical University in the Netherlands and a master’s degree in business administration from Purdue University in the United States.
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