Who are GE Aerospace's decision-makers?

Larry Culp (Chairman & CEO) joined GE's Board in October 2018 as the first outside CEO in GE's 130-year history — a remarkable signal of how distressed the company had become. He spent 25 years at Danaher, where as CEO (2001–2014) he grew revenue from $3.8B to $20B through the Danaher Business System, a lean operating model emphasizing kaizen, daily management, and cash flow discipline. At GE, he applied a similar methodology — branded the FLIGHT DECK operating system — to strip out bureaucracy, improve cash conversion, and sequentially divest non-core businesses. He orchestrated the three-way breakup of GE into Aerospace, Vernova, and HealthCare, and became Chairman and CEO of the standalone GE Aerospace at its April 2024 launch.

Rahul Ghai (CFO) oversees capital allocation for a company generating $7.7B annually in free cash flow. He previously served as CFO of Otis Elevators and Harris Corporation — both precision capital-allocation businesses — making him well-suited for GE Aerospace's ongoing deleveraging and buyback program. Mohamed Ali (President & CEO, CES) runs the $33B+ commercial engine business and was appointed to the top CES role in January 2026 following a restructuring that expanded the CES mandate. A 28-year GE veteran with a Cornell PhD, Ali embodies the engineering-meets-business profile Culp prizes in his direct reports.

Jason Tonich (Chief Commercial Sales & Customer Officer) leads the integrated global sales team — a newly consolidated role announced in January 2026 that reports directly to Culp — and is the primary relationship owner for airline and airframer customers worldwide. Patrick de Castelbajac (CSO), a former Airbus EVP and Nordic Aviation Capital CEO, anchors GE Aerospace's M&A and long-range planning, while David Burns (CIO) oversees the company's technology transformation, including the AWS cloud-native data platform and the Azure AI Wingmate generative AI deployment.

GE Aerospace is a large buyer as well as a seller — understanding its internal procurement authority is essential for vendors. For supply chain and component purchases (metals, composites, thermal coatings, precision machined parts, tooling), the key enterprise decision-maker is Phil Wickler (Chief Transformation Officer), who owns Supply Chain, Quality, and Lean Operations enterprise-wide. Supplier relationships at volume flow through the segment presidents — Mohamed Ali (commercial) and Amy Gowder (defense) — with Phil Wickler's organization setting supply chain standards, vendor qualification criteria, and FLIGHT DECK performance metrics.

For technology and software investments (cloud infrastructure, AI, ERP, data analytics, digital tools), CIO David Burns is the budget owner. GE Aerospace has made high-profile technology partnerships — Microsoft Azure AI (AI Wingmate), AWS (data pipelines), SAP (S/4HANA migration), Oracle (analytics), Salesforce (CRM) — all cleared through the CIO's office with CFO co-sponsorship for multi-year enterprise commitments. For strategic partnerships, M&A, or large-scale alliances, CSO Patrick de Castelbajac and Larry Culp himself are the decision-makers.

Enterprise procurement contacts for specific supply categories can be accessed through the GE Aerospace supplier portal at geaerospace.com. Software vendors and professional services firms typically enter through the CIO organization or segment CFOs, then escalate to the CTO (Wickler) or CEO if the engagement crosses a multi-year or strategic threshold. The confirmed email format — firstname.lastname@geaerospace.com — applies to all executives listed above.

Since the April 2024 spin-off, GE Aerospace has operated a simplified two-segment structure: Commercial Engines & Services (CES) under Mohamed Ali, and Defense, Propulsion & Additive Technologies (DPT) under Amy Gowder. This replaced the former multi-segment GE Aviation structure and eliminated layers between the CEO and business leaders — a deliberate Culp move to improve accountability and decision speed.

In January 2026, Culp made two structural changes: he expanded the CES mandate (folding in additional services scope and appointing Mohamed Ali to replace Russell Stokes as segment CEO), and he created the unified Chief Commercial Sales & Customer Officer role under Jason Tonich — consolidating what had been fragmented commercial and customer-facing teams across segments. The FLIGHT DECK operating system governs how each segment runs its operations, tracks daily metrics, and prioritizes capital, with a management cadence and visual management approach unusual for a company of GE Aerospace's scale.

Phil Wickler (CTO) sits across both segments with enterprise responsibility for transformation, quality, and lean operations. David Burns (CIO) operates as a shared-services function across all of GE Aerospace, including the corporate center and both business segments. Patrick de Castelbajac (CSO) advises Culp directly on strategy and reports outside the segment structure.