Boeing is promoting Stephanie Pope to become chief operating officer (COO) starting Jan. 1, 2024, a move that catapults the veteran Boeing leader onto the short list of potential CEO successors.

It also puts Pope under the spotlight for fixing a company that has suffered operational setbacks in the face of growing investor expectations for payouts.

Pope’s promotion, announced Dec. 11, will place her at the pinnacle of operational leadership and make her responsible for company-wide supply chain, quality, manufacturing and engineering, Boeing said. The heads of Boeing’s three divisions—commercial, defense and services—will report to her, as will the Boeing chief engineer and president of Boeing Global. In turn, she will report to Boeing CEO and President Dave Calhoun, as will other senior corporate functional leaders.

“Next year will be a significant transitional year in our performance as we continue to restore our operational and financial strength; and Stephanie will help drive the stability and predictability necessary to ensure we deliver on our customer, employee, regulatory, investor and other stakeholder commitments,” Calhoun said in the announcement.

COOs are returning to prominence across aerospace and defense companies as industry labors to recover from the production disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Boeing, meanwhile, also suffered the 737 MAX grounding and production halt, 787 manufacturing problems, and its defense and space division has remained a cash-burning business long beyond expectations.

While some companies incorporate COO duties as part of the president’s role—if they have one, as Boeing does—Boeing is explicitly breaking out operational responsibility for Pope in the newly created COO position. Calhoun, who is 66, does not have to retire until April 2028 when he is 70 under conditions that were changed by the board of directors in April 2021.

“The move could be setting her up as a possible successor to Dave Calhoun as CEO,” financial analysts at Jefferies said.

Since April 2022, Pope has been chief executive of Boeing Global Services, the company’s smallest yet best-performing division. It focuses on aftermarket and maintenance, repair and overhaul, which at Boeing and elsewhere has been outshining manufacturing during the business recovery in recent years.

“Pope is elevated from her role as president and CEO of Boeing Global Services, which has been a superstar unit at Boeing in terms of operational excellence,” Jefferies noted.

Boeing said it will name a successor to lead Global Services later. Pope has been with Boeing for nearly three decades, with leadership positions at all three current divisions, plus corporate functions such as investor relations.