Our program for January 28, 2021, featured Bill McSherry and Ryan Tomasich of Boeing. Bill and Ryan updated us on what has been happening at Boeing, during some truly turbulent times.

William McSherry is Vice President, State & Local and Global Corporate Citizenship, Boeing Commercial. He has worked at the regional, state and federal levels of government on economic and aerospace issues. He has a BA in political science and an MBA, both from the University of Washington.

Ryan Tomasich is a Government Operations manager for The Boeing Company. In this position, he is responsible for representing the company before elected and appointed public officials and their staffs, industry and business association executives and political community-based organizations in the Puget Sound region. He acts as a company focal for negotiating and influencing government relations’ policy on external issues and he provides political strategy and advice to company management. Tomasich graduated from Loyola Marymount University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science.

The hardships that the company has faced in the past eighteen months were striking. This includes both the 737-MAX difficulties and COVID-19. In one of the more striking slides, Bill and Ryan talked about the decline in air travel in the past year. In April, passengers were down over ninety percent–four to five times less than the periods following 9/11 and the Great Recession.

Some more of their presentation is incorporated in the following: