John J. Tracy (born September 29, 1954, in Los Angeles,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

) is the retired Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of

The Boeing Company The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...

, the world's largest aerospace company. At Boeing, he held the dual roles of CTO and Senior Vice President of Engineering, Operations & Technology from June 2006 to mid 2016. During his tenure as CTO, Tracy led Boeing's engineering team, which created noteworthy aerospace products including the

787 Dreamliner The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is an American wide-body jet airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After dropping its unconventional Sonic Cruiser project, Boeing announced the conventional 7E7 on January 29, 2003, ...

commercial airplane, the first jetliner to feature a composite fuselage; the

747-8 The Boeing 747-8 is a wide-body airliner formerly developed by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, and the largest variant of the 747. After introducing the 747-400, Boeing considered larger 747 versions as alternatives to the proposed double-deck ...

Intercontinental airplane, an updated version of Boeing's largest commercial airplane; the

X-37 The Boeing X-37, also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV), is a reusable robotic spacecraft. It is boosted into space by a launch vehicle, then re-enters Earth's atmosphere and lands as a spaceplane. The X-37 is operated by the United State ...

, an experimental 30-foot unmanned space plane that's the first reusable spacecraft since the Space Shuttle; and

Phantom Eye The Boeing Phantom Eye was a high altitude, long endurance (HALE) liquid hydrogen-powered unmanned aerial vehicle developed by Boeing Phantom Works. The aircraft was Boeing's proposal to meet the demand from the US military for unmanned drones ...

, a long-endurance, hydrogen-powered, 150-foot-long unmanned demonstrator aircraft.

Early life

Tracy was born in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, the second of two children. His father, John Wesley Tracy, worked in Human Resources at North American Aviation, which would later be acquired by Boeing. His mother, Victoria Alegria, was a homemaker. Tracy earned a bachelor's degree in physics from California State University-Dominguez Hills in 1976, a master's degree in physics from

California State University-Los Angeles California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA) is a public university in Los Angeles, California. It is part of the 23-campus California State University (CSU) system. Cal State LA offers 142 bachelor's degrees, 122 master's degrees, ...

in 1981, and a doctorate in engineering from the

University of California-Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 und ...

in 1987.

Career

After spending three years as a high school physics and mathematics teacher in Los Angeles and two years as a physicist at Hercules Aerospace, Tracy joined McDonnell Douglas in 1981 as an engineer scientist. At that company he followed a path into management, which continued after the firm was acquired by Boeing in 1996. From 2004 to 2006 he served as the Vice President of Engineering for the company's Integrated Defense Systems business unit. In 2006 he was named the company's Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President of Engineering, Operations & Technology. During his career, Tracy developed strong expertise in composites, aircraft structures and materials, composite structural mechanics, launch vehicle structures, smart structures, and aging aircraft. He has testified during hearings of committees in both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives on topics relating to the U.S. aerospace industry's ability to compete globally. Tracy retired in July 2016, after the 100th anniversary of the founding of The Boeing Company.

Executive roles at Boeing

2006-2016: Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President, Engineering, Operations & Technology 2004-2006: Vice President, Engineering, Integrated Defense Systems 2001-2004: Vice President, Structural Technologies, Prototyping, and Quality, Phantom Works

Honors and awards

* Elected Member of the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy ...

(For leadership in advanced composites design and manufacturing technology for air and space vehicles.)(2013 * Honorary Fellow of the

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is a professional society for the field of aerospace engineering. The AIAA is the U.S. representative on the International Astronautical Federation and the International Council of ...

(2016) * International Von Karman Wings Award (2014) * Fellow of the

Royal Aeronautical Society The Royal Aeronautical Society, also known as the RAeS, is a British multi-disciplinary professional institution dedicated to the global aerospace community. Founded in 1866, it is the oldest aeronautical society in the world. Members, Fellows ...

* Fellow of the

American Society of Mechanical Engineers The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is an American professional association that, in its own words, "promotes the art, science, and practice of multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences around the globe" via "continuing ...

(2004). * Fellow of the

(2006) *2006, Great Minds in STEM: Hispanic Engineer of the Year. Honor recognizes overall leadership and technical or scientific achievement. *2009, Great Minds in STEM: Induction into the Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Conference (HENAAC) Hall of Fame. *2014, Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers: Renaissance Engineer Award. Tracy became only the second individual ever to receive this award from SHPE since the organization's founding in 1974. *2016, Black Engineer of the Year Awards: Career Achievement Award. *2016, U.S. News & World Report: Induction into the publication's STEM Leadership Hall of Fame. *2016, Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering (SAMPE): George Lubin Memorial Award.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tracy, John 1954 births Living people American chief technology officers California State University, Dominguez Hills alumni California State University, Los Angeles alumni University of California, Irvine alumni Boeing people