Boeing Chairman, President and CEO Dennis Muilenburg named Kevin G. McAllister president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, succeeding company Vice Chairman Ray Conner in that role.

McAllister joined Boeing after 27 years with GE Aviation, where he served since 2014 as president and CEO of GE Aviation Services. Before that, as vice president and general manager of global sales and marketing since 2008, he was credited with delivering record backlog growth for the nearly $25 billion GE business.

“Kevin is one of industry’s best and most highly regarded senior executives, and we are thrilled to have him join Boeing and our strong Commercial Airplanes team,” Muilenburg said. “He’s a passionate leader with decades of commercial aviation knowledge and experience. He knows Boeing well, shares our values and commitment to our people, and has the results-oriented operational and business experience needed to lead this vital and growing part of our company.”

Muilenburg also appointed Stanley A. Deal president and CEO of Boeing Global Services, a new business unit to be formed from the customer services groups within the company’s existing commercial airplanes and defense, space and security business units.

“With Ray Conner’s retirement timeline in sight and an expanding global services market to pursue, these moves will further strengthen and grow Boeing and better serve our customers, employees, shareholders and other partners in the years ahead,” said Muilenburg. “We are immensely grateful to Ray for his leadership and contributions to Boeing over nearly four decades, and we will continue to rely on his vast experience and keen insights in supporting the leadership and business transitions underway.”