Maureen Dougherty Named President Of The Planemakers Australian Operations

Maureen Dougherty has been tapped as the president of Boeing Australia and South Pacific. She previously led one of the company’s major defense projects, the U.S. Air Force KC-46A Tanker program.

Dougherty succeeds Ian Thomas, who held the job from 2009. Thomas was named president of Boeing China, based in Beijing, last month. Both appointments will be effective by the end of March. “Australia is one of Boeing’s key markets and home to our largest operational footprint outside the United States,” said Shep Hill, president of Boeing International and senior vice president of Business Development and Strategy. “Maureen’s appointment continues our enduring partnership with Australia. She knows Australia well from her time leading the Wedgetail airborne early warning & control program, now in service with the Royal Australian Air Force.”

Dougherty will coordinate all Boeing activities and lead the company’s government relations across the Oceania region. She will be based in Sydney and report to Hill.

As vice president and program manager for the KC-46A Tanker program, Dougherty led multiple Boeing teams to design, develop and manufacture the KC-46 Tanker. Earlier, she was vice president, Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C), which is a state-of-the-art system providing powerful airborne surveillance, communications and battle management. She also served as vice president for the F-22 program, an advanced tactical fighter jointly built by Boeing and Lockheed Martin.  Throughout her 30-year career, Dougherty has held a variety of leadership positions on missile, fighter, bomber and military commercial derivative aircraft. She has a broad technical background in structures, avionics, systems and test engineering and has managed programs through development, production and sustainment.

Dougherty holds a master’s degree in engineering from the University of Washington, where she studied as a Boeing Company Systems Engineering Fellow. She received her undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from Pennsylvania State University.

FMI: www.boeing.com