Boeing’s Bonnie Stoufer Helps Learning Take Flight

Name: Bonnie Stoufer, Ph.D.

Title: President, Learning, Training and Development

Company: The Boeing Company

Successes:

• During its first six months of operation, learning, training and development realigned and consolidated curricula. More than 36,000 active courses were identified in the company’s corporate LMSs, and more than 2,000 other courses were deactivated.
• During the first six months of the new learning and training organization, Boeing realized $5 million in productivity gains by renegotiating contracts, discontinuing redundant courses, using more third parties, migrating courses to the Web and negotiating discounts and rebates on tuition costs at universities with high Boeing enrollments.
• Last year, learning, training and development launched work on an aggressive plan to consolidate the company’s multiple learning management systems into an integrated platform and began developing a single training portal for the company.

Learning Philosophy: “Companies cannot survive today’s competitive business environment unless they have a skilled and motivated workforce at all levels in the organization. Learning must be a continuous process throughout an employee’s career. Companies that make this investment in developing their people win in the marketplace. They also win in the war for talent. People are attracted and retained by companies that provide opportunities to continually expand their skill sets and competencies, whether through formal training and development or on the job.”

In the next 24 hours, several million passengers will board 42,300 flights on Boeing jetliners that will carry them to almost every country on Earth. Those travelers will find their way home using a global positioning system designed by Boeing. Imagine keeping that—plus Boeing’s defense businesses— going via learning and development initiatives for some 155,000 employees worldwide. That is Bonnie Stoufer’s reality.

“Boeing engineers, designs and manufactures planes, so that’s no small product line,” said Bonnie Stoufer, Ph.D., vice president of learning, training and development for Boeing. “Safety, quality assurance, regulatory and government oversight—all of those become very important, along with environment and a heavy emphasis on leadership development.”