• CEO of Boeing.
  • a mathematics and physics graduate.
  • thankful for my Willamette mentors,
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Jim Albaugh '72 credits his faculty mentors with steering him toward math and physics.

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IAM

Leading an Aerospace Company

Willamette helped Boeing’s CEO discover his love for numbers and engineering.

Jim Albaugh ’72, President and CEO, Boeing Commercial Airplanes

“I came to Willamette without any idea what I wanted to do other than to go to college. After one semester — because of the small classes and one-on-one mentoring of the faculty — I fell in love with numbers and majored in math and physics. My math professor got me directly into engineering graduate school at Columbia University. 

“If it wasn’t for Willamette, I would not have had the exciting and rewarding career that I’ve had. I have put people and payloads into space, have worked with some of the smartest people on Earth designing and developing many of the most complex systems ever built for the Department of Defense and U.S. intelligence agencies, and have been part of the delivery of the first new commercial airplanes of the 21st century, the 787 Dreamliner and the 747-8 Freighter and Intercontinental.

“I can think of no better preparation for my career than a liberal arts education and a degree in engineering. I owe so much to Willamette.”

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