Dr. Walt W. Braithwaite was born and raised in Kingston Jamaica, completed his engineering studies in the
United States and, in 1966, joined The Boeing Company, where he contributed in a number of capacities for
almost thirty seven years.

His first assignment at Boeing was in the Commercial Airplane Fabrication Division, as a Tool Engineer. In
this position he was responsible to design tools and fixtures for manufacturing and to program Numerical
Control machines to produce aircraft parts. This assignment was followed with one in a Computer Aided
Design development group, in which design and manufacturing systems development were performed. Among
other positions held at Boeing were Program Manager for the 727 aircraft, chief engineer for Engineering
Operations in the 747/767 Division, Director of Program Management in the 707/727/737/757 Division, Vice
president of Computing for the Commercial Airplane Group, Vice President of Corporate Administration and
he retired after three years as President of Boeing Africa.

This last assignment was described by the Ghanaian Ambassador to the EU, as “a Commercial Ambassador.”
His job was to establish a Boeing presence on the African continent and to build relationships with government,
industry and community organizations. This assignment gave Walt the opportunity to work with many African
leaders and to establish relationships that continue to exist.

Throughout his career, Walt has been recognized by a number of industry, community and national
organizations. For his contributions to industry, community and work done with the University of the West
Indies, he was awarded a Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) Honoris Causa by the University. He holds advanced degrees
from the University of Washington where he lectured for ten years in engineering computing, the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (Sloan Fellowship) and a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in technology and business
processes from Rushmore University.

In 1995, Walt was recognized as the US Black Engineer of the Year for his incredible engineering and
leadership in the creation of Boeing’s first computer aided design and manufacturing tools and establishing
American Standards in the field. In 2017, he received the prestegious Pathfinder Award and his engineering
accomplishments are documented in the Museum of Flight, Tukwila, WA.

Walt was a tailblazer in the The Boeing Company and is credited for mentoring the careers of several who
followed.