A longtime CEO, Fortune 100 director and aviation business leader, Leanne Caret is a former executive vice president and senior advisor to The Boeing Company, where she also served as CEO and president of Boeing Defense, Space and Security.
During her 34-year career at Boeing, Caret led finance, operations and management divisions, as well as managed a $30 billion budget and oversaw 30,000 employees. She was the first woman to lead a major business unit at Boeing.
Caret was included in Fortune's Most Powerful Women list for five consecutive years.
She serves as a senior advisor to Blackstone and as board director and chair of the audit committee for both Deere & Company and RTX (formerly Raytheon Technologies). She is also a senior advisor to MyNextSeason, which offers coaching to C-suite leaders.
Caret is known for her approach to leadership development, which can be summed up in "The 4 G's": Grit, Gumption, Grace and Gratitude, a philosophy intended to help teams overcome challenges, embrace innovation and effectively incorporate new technologies.
In fact, she has a reputation for leading change at global companies, mentoring senior leaders and transforming industries by encouraging the integration of emerging technologies.
“Leanne is an expert in helping high-performing organizations reach the next level,” said Mori Hosseini, chair of Embry‑Riddle’s Board of Trustees. “She is a highly strategic thinker with a wealth of experience in industry — exactly the type of person to help lead this institution into the future.”
“The greatest act that any of us can do, as Americans, is to pay it forward,” Caret said. “I look forward to doing just that at Embry‑Riddle, in contributing to the university’s mission of developing the next generation of talent throughout the fields of aviation and aerospace.”
Caret’s commitment to mentorship is evident through her service in Executive-In-Residence positions at Kansas State University and Embry-Riddle, in which she inspired and guided the next generation of leaders.
A graduate of Kansas State University, Caret earned her Master of Business Administration from Wichita State University. She earned an honorary doctorate from Embry‑Riddle in 2022.
Caret serves on the boards of the Kansas State University Foundation and USO Inc. She is also a member of the advisory boards for Virginia Tech National Security Institute and the Oklahoma Aerospace Defense Innovation Institute. She is also a member of the national advisory council of Wichita State University.
Caret holds prestigious fellowships from the Royal Aeronautical Society and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
The industry leader has longstanding volunteer experience, including having served as a board member and executive committee member of the Aerospace Industry Association and as treasurer and board member of the Vertical Flight Society.
