NEW YORK — The Wings Club Foundation will honor Boeing’s immediate past Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, W. James (Jim) McNerney, Jr., with the 2016 Distinguished Achievement Award.
The Wings Club Foundation will present the award on Oct. 21, at the 74th Annual Awards Gala to be held at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City.
McNerney joined Boeing as Chairman, President and CEO in July 2005, where he served as president until December 2013 and CEO until July 2015, having served as a member of the Boeing board since 2001.
Prior to this, he served as chairman of the board and CEO of 3M, which was a $20 billion global technology company when he joined in 2000 after having spent 19 years at General Electric.
McNerney’s career at General Electric began in 1982, wherein he held top executive positions including President and CEO of GE Aircraft Engines and GE Lighting; President of GE Asia-Pacific; President and CEO of GE Electrical Distribution and Control; Executive Vice President of GE Capital; and President, GE Information Services. Previously, McNerney worked at Procter & Gamble and McKinsey & Co., Inc.
Appointed by U.S. President Barack Obama, McNerney serves on the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees, having previously chaired the President’s Export Council. He also serves on the board of trustees of the Washington, D.C.- based Center for Strategic and International Studies, and he is a past chair and previous member of the executive committee of Business Roundtable.
The Wings Club’s Distinguished Achievement Award has been presented annually since 1975. Past recipients include Neil Armstrong, Senator John Glenn, President George H. W. Bush, Brigadier General Charles E. Yeager, Frederick Smith, Steven Udvar-Hazy, T. Allan McArtor, and Jim Albaugh, as well as 13 present and former airline CEO’s including, Robert Crandall, Herbert Kelleher, Gordon Bethune, Sir Colin Marshall, Wolfgang Mayrhuber, Sir Richard Branson and Dave Barger.