Dennis Muilenburg Biography & Net Worth

Dennis Muilenburg Biography & Net Worth

Dennis Muilenburg is an American business executive, engineer, and the former chief executive officer (CEO) and president of The Boeing Company, a global aerospace and Defense Company. An Iowa State University Alumni, Dennis occupied the chief executive officer position from 2015 to 2019, when he was dismissed in the aftermath of two crashes of the 737 MAX and its following groundings. Here’s all that there is to know about this man. Read on!

Dennis Muilenburg’s Early Life & Education

Dennis A. Muilenburg was born in 1964 in the United States and was raised on a farm in Iowa. For his education, he attended Sioux Center High School in Sioux Center, Iowa, graduating in 1982 before enrolling at Iowa State University at which he received a bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering. This was subsequently followed by an enrollment at the University of Washington where he successfully completed a master’s degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics before facing his career squarely.

Career & Professional Life

Muilenburg started off by joining Boeing as an intern in 1985. He moved up the ranks soon enough and held several engineering and management positions on various Boeing programs, including the Condor unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, the YAL-1 747 Airborne Laser, the High Speed Civil Transport, Boeing’s participation in the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor fighter, and the X-32 (Boeing’s entry in the Joint Strike Fighter contest). He later became program manager for the Army Combat Systems program and vice president of the Boeing combat systems unit. Dennis was chief executive officer and president of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems (later renamed Boeing Defense, Space & Security) from September 2009 to 2015. He became the president of Boeing in December 2013.

In July 2015, Muilenburg succeeded James McNerney as chief executive officer. James stepped down after occupying that role for ten years. In March the next year, Muilenburg also succeeded McNerney as Boeing’s chairman, becoming the chairman of the board of directors of the company.

In March 2019, as a result of the Lion Air Flight 610 crash and the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash, which occurred five months after the Lion crash, most airlines and countries started to ground the Boeing 737 MAX 8 due to safety concerns. On March 12, former President Donald Trump spoke to Muilenburg and received reassurance that the aircraft was safe.

In October 2019, the company announced that its board had voted to separate the roles of chief executive officer and chairman, both of which were held by Dennis Muilenburg. While Muilenburg continued as chief executive president and president, David L. Calhoun was elected to assume the position of non-executive chairman. The company said the change would enable Muilenburg to concentrate full-time on managing the company, while it worked to return the grounded Boeing 737 MAX to service. In November that year, Muilenburg confirmed that he wouldn’t be taking a bonus for the year following the criticisms he received for the two plane crashes that took the lives of a total of 346 people.

On December 23, 2019, it was announced that Muilenburg had resigned as the chief executive officer and board director of Boeing, in consequence of the two 737 MAX aircraft crashes. He was succeeded as president and chief executive officer by current chairman David L. Calhoun.

In January 2020, Caterpillar Inc. disclosed that Muilenburg had resigned from his position on its board (which he joined in 2011), and stated in a regulatory report that his resignation was not connected to any disagreement with the company.

Memberships

Dennis Muilenburg has served on several boards and has held significant positions on some of them. Currently, the ex-CEO of Boeing is a Board member of the US-China Business Council, and a Trustee of both The National WWII Museum and the Northwestern University. Previously, he was a Trustee of Washington University, Chairman of the board of Aerospace Industries Association, Chairman of the board at The Boeing Company, Board member at Caterpillar Inc., Board member of Aerospace Industries Association, Vice-chairman of the board at The Boeing Company, and Board member, The Boeing Company, until his resignation on December 23, 2019, as President, chief executive and board member in the aftermath of the Boeing 737 Max crashes

Personal Life

Muilenburg does not speak so much about his personal life. He has always been known to be very secretive, thus, not much is known regarding this aspect of his life. He has talked about managing overall life and has revealed that he’s a Baptist. One more thing about this man is that he’s a man that is very positive about his body and likes to pay serious attention to his health. He cycles about 120 miles every week around the Chicago area in order to maintain a fit and healthy body.

Awards & Achievements

Even though he faced criticism and was fired from his job due to the unfortunate circumstances involving two Boeing crashes that happened 5 months apart in 2019, Dennis Muilenburg is a man that was so much respected and loved for his contributions to technology. His accomplishments as a dedicated business executive and expert engineer speak on his behalf even to this day, and has been mainly responsible for all the awards and honors he has earned in his lifetime. Asides from being a member of Business Roundtable, Association of the United States Army, National Space Council Users Advisory Group, and National Academy of Engineering, Muilenburg has also been honored with the following:

• Fellow, Royal Aeronautical Society
• Dean’s Award (2018), University of Washington College of Engineering
• CEO of the Year Award (2018), Thurgood Marshall College Fund
• John W. Dixon Award (2017), Association of the United States Army
• Honorary Fellow, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
• Person of the Year (2018), Aviation Week

Dennis Muilenburg Net Worth

The American engineer and businessman Dennis Muilenburg was born and raised in Orange City, Iowa in the United States. After completing his education, he joined the Boeing Company as a full-time staff after spending time as an intern with the multi-national aerospace company. He quickly rose through the ranks due to his steadfastness and intelligence, and soon found himself occupying several strategic positions at the company where he served as the chairman, president, and chief executive officer until he was fired in the wake of Boeing’s 737 Max crisis in 2019.

He began working with Boeing in 1985 and has made a vast portion of his wealth from the company. According to findings by our sources, Muilenburg earned just over $15 million in salary in the year 2016. As of January 2019, he owned 130,000 shares of Boeing which made him one of the largest individual shareholders of the company. In 2018, he earned $23.4 million in total compensation for the year. Since he turned down his bonuses in 2019 after receiving much criticism for the air crashes, he most likely earned his base salary which amounts to about $3 million. When he earned $23.4 million in 2014, about $20.4 million was a mix of stock options and bonuses. Upon being fired from the company, it was revealed that Muilenburg would be allowed to cart away with $18.5 million worth of exercised stock options and $62 million worth of pension benefits and pay for a total exit package of $80 million. By comparison, the Boeing company set aside $50 million to compensate family members of those who died in the 737 crash.

As of this writing, Dennis Muilenburg’s net worth is $100 million. He may have lost his job following unfortunate circumstances, but from his salaries and other earnings during the peak of his career as president, chairman, and chief executive officer of Boeing, this business guru has been able to amass a fortune that may last him a lifetime.