Cindy Gruensfelder
President, Defense Sector
Cindy Gruensfelder is president of the Defense Sector, a business comprised of more than 9,000 highly skilled professionals. From the seafloor to space, this team addresses a variety of threat environments facing the nation by delivering advanced systems across aerospace, airborne, land, and sea.
Gruensfelder brings extensive aerospace and defense leadership expertise, having served in a variety of leadership roles at Boeing and its heritage company, McDonnell Douglas, for more than 30 years. This includes serving as program manager for the Boeing Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike activity (UCLASS, now MQ-25A) and deputy program manager for Advanced Air Dominance and Next Generation Air Dominance.
In her most recent role, Gruensfelder was vice president and general manager of the Missile and Weapon Systems division of Boeing Defense, Space and Security. In this role, she led execution of program priorities and long-term strategy for the division. This work included U.S. homeland missile defense solutions such as the Ground-based Midcourse Defense and Missile Defense National Team programs; strategic deterrence systems, including the Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile program; weapons programs, including cruise missile systems and direct attack precision-guided munition programs; and Integrated Air and Missile Defense and Laser and Electro-Optical Systems programs consisting of kinetic and directed energy solutions.
Previously, she was vice president of weapons for the MWS division, responsible for all aspects of Boeing’s weapons portfolio. Prior to that role, she was director of the direct attack portfolio within the weapons organization.
Gruensfelder holds a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Washington University and a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.