Preview
Creation Date
2019
Biography
Leland Wight is the Senior Director and Deputy Program Manager for Boeing's Commercial Crew Program, which is building the Commercial Crew Transportation System (CCTS) known as the CST-100 Starliner. In this role he is responsible for managing the development of a human-rated spacecraft that can transport NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station, and eventually, paying passengers to a variety of low-Earth orbit destinations.
Prior to this assignment, Wight was the Chief Engineer of the Chinook H-47 rotorcraft. In this role, he was responsible for the design and performance of the Chinook helicopter fleet, numbering more than 950 worldwide.
Wight has held a series of positions in program management and engineering leadership during his 35-year aerospace career at Boeing, including director of international programs for Chinook, and previously on P-8, which included the role of P-8I India program manager.
As the P-8I program manager, he led the full lifecycle of the program from kickoff through delivery of the first four of eight aircraft. In this capacity, he had full accountability and oversight of the $2.1 billion contract, including development, design, delivery, acceptance, certification and profitability. Additionally, his prior contributions on P-8A as the systems engineering manager and engineering focal point on the P-8I negotiations team helped mature the product line.
Wight joined Boeing in 1981 as a material and processes engineer responsible for developing new composite materials. In addition to degrees from the University of Washington, Wight also holds a master’s in engineering management from Washington State University.
