Philip Murray Condit is an iconic Avionic professional that has achieved many milestones throughout his career. Born in Berkeley, California, Philip showcased his Aviation interests at an early age by obtaining his Pilot’s Certificate when he was 18. Following this, Philip got his Bachelor of Science, concentrating in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California in 1963. He then went on to get not only one, but two Master’s degrees: one was a Master’s of Science in Aeronautical Engineering from Princeton University and the other, a Master’s in Management from the MIT Sloan School of Management. To top it off, Philip continued his education by getting his PhD in Engineering from the Tokyo University of Science. He was then recognized as the first westerner to earn this type of degree from the institution.
Following his Bachelor’s, Philip’s career shifted to an American multi-national corporation we all know of today – Boeing.
Boeing is one of the largest global aircraft manufacturers. Boeing designs, manufactures and sells aircrafts, rotorcrafts, rockets and satellites. Other services include leasing and product support.
Philip joined Boeing in 1965 as an Aerodynamics Engineer. He began by working on the Supersonic Transport Program. For those who are unfamiliar, a supersonic transport (SST) is a civilian aircraft that is designed to transport passengers at speeds that are greater than the speed of sound. Later that year, Philip was granted a patent due to a flexible wing design he had created named the “sail wing”.
Philip’s career continued to progress as he built his tenure at Boeing. See a brief timeline of his career achievements below:
• 1968 – Lead engineer on Boeing 747 Configuration – Boeing 747 is a commercial jet airline and cargo aircraft that has a widened body – Philip also was the Marketing Manager for the aircraft in 1973.
• 1974 – After his Master’s program, Philip came back to Boeing as the Manager of new program planning – he was then advanced to Director of Program Management for the Boeing 707/727/737 aircraft divisions in 1976.
• 1978 – Became Boeing 757 Chief Program Engineer.
• 1981 – Became Director of Boeing 757 Engineering.
• 1983 – Became Vice President and General Manager of Boeing 757 Renton Division of Boeing Commercial Aircraft Company (BCAC). The company is private division of Boeing.
• 1984 – Became Vice President of Sales and Marketing for the BCAC.
• 1986 – Became Executive Vice President and General Manager of BCAC, Executive VP And GM of the Boeing 777 Program Division.
• 1996 – Became President of Boeing and was a member of the Board of Directors.
• 1997 – Became the 7th Chairman of the company, since founded in 1916.
• 2004 – Philip was still Chairman until December 2003 – In March 2004, Philip retired – retirement was necessary due to the fallout from the freezing of a tanker contract with the United States Air Force. This occurred due to an investigation of a former procurement staffer over corruption charges. The former staffer offered her work to Boeing while she was still a U.S. Government employee which caused a violation of Boeing ethics.
Even though Philip’s career at Boeing had ended, he had continued to achieve greatness including serving on the board of Hewlett-Packard Company, being an honorary fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and has received many awards for engineering and management activities to name a few.
About the Author
Monica Pham, holds an Honours Bachelor of Business Administration with a Concentration in Human Resource Management from the Goodman School of Business. She has been with Aversan for 9 months. Her role at Aversan is a Talent Acquisition Specialist, working with clients located in Toronto, Vancouver, and Phoenix. Outside the office, Monica can be found cooking, listening to trance music or power lifting at the gym.
Disclaimer: Any views or opinions presented in this blog post are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Aversan Inc.