News Release Date:
Friday, Mar 10, 2006
WALLA
WALLA,
Wash.-- An executive whose impressive career path
began in 1978 as a contracts analyst for McDonnell Douglas and culminated in
her current position as executive vice president of The Boeing Company and
president of Connexion by Boeing will present the second Women, Leadership and
Society Lecture at Whitman on Monday, March 27.
Laurette
Koellner will discuss “Redefining the Possible” at 7 p.m. in the Young Ballroom, Reid Campus Center, 280 Boyer Ave.,
Whitman College. This lecture is the second in a series intended to address “my concerns
and the concerns of others that despite three decades of upward
mobility in American society, relatively few women occupy positions in
senior leadership in politics, business or education,” said President
George Bridges.
Since
earning her bachelor’s degree in business management from the
University of
Central
Florida and her MBA from
Stetson
University in
Deland, Florida,
Koellner has held a variety of positions requiring progressively more
responsibility and expertise.
While
employed at McDonnell Douglas she began managing contracts and pricing for the
Missile Systems Company in Florida where she led all negotiations with the
Department of Defense, NASA and a variety of international governments for
weapons systems and related products and services.
In 1992 she
was promoted to vice president-general auditor of McDonnell Douglas, a position
she held during that company’s merger with Boeing in 1997. She was asked to
continue with the newly merged company and in 2004 was named president of
Connexion by Boeing, the Boeing business unit which provides real-time,
high-speed Internet and entertainment services to mobile platforms such as
commercial and executive aircraft and maritime vessels. She is also a member of
the Boeing Executive Council.
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CONTACT: Lenel Parish, Whitman College
News Service, (509) 527-5156
Email: parishlj@whitman.edu
