Lisa Schleuter’s interest in aerospace began as a child, hopping regular flights between the United States and Germany, where her family lived for a time. An internship with us sealed the deal.

“Boeing’s internship program is strong,” said Lisa. “With the connections that I made and all that I learned about the company, I knew that I wanted to come back and work on airplanes.”

Lisa joined us right out of college as a structural design engineer for the 787-10 Dreamliner wing team.

After several engineering roles with our Commercial Airplanes production and product development teams, Lisa earned her first leadership role as a manager.

“I enjoy bringing people with different skills together to achieve something more than I could achieve by myself. Using my skills to make sure we're working on the right things and coordinating is very rewarding,” said Lisa.

Eager to take on greater responsibility, Lisa applied to the Leaders for Global Operations (LGO) Boeing Sponsorship Program offered in partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

This competitive program consists of a two-year, on-campus dual master’s degree program followed by a six-year rotation to help employees gain the experience needed for executive leadership. It’s one of the many ways we develop our next generation of leaders.

Boeing provides full-time salary, housing allowance, a stipend for incidentals, and fully paid tuition.

“Being able to develop both leadership and technical skills was important to me. At work we’re learning and practicing every day. The academic experience complemented the work I do, especially with its focus on operations and engineering,” said Lisa. She also credits the program’s strong alumni network with helping her through the experience.

Lisa says there were challenges along the way, like stepping away from work for two years to complete her degrees while balancing home life and moving her family from Washington state to Boston.

“Boeing was very accommodating and my husband who also works here was extremely supportive.”

Degrees in hand, Lisa is now back in the Puget Sound region to begin the rotation phase of the program, as the production engineering manager for the new 777-8 Freighter fuselage.

“I will lead a team of production engineers to determine the optimal way to build the airplane efficiently and with first time quality. I’m excited for what’s next.”

We never stop learning

Developing our people is as important to us as delivering quality products and services to our customers. See more of the ways we invest in our employees’ learning and development to help them have a great career.