Finding answers ERIC CREGGER While some kids spout baseball stats, as a youngster Eric Cregger quoted performance information of World War II airplanes. By fifth grade, Cregger, a strong math student, had found a calling—aerospace engineering. Cregger grew up in Virginia and studied engineering at Penn State University. After a brief stint with General Dynamics, he was offered two positions: one in Baltimore and the other in Seattle. Cregger decided to head west, a choice he hasn’t regretted. “I’ve never picked jobs solely based on what they might do for my career,” he said. “Any promotion has come as a side benefit and is based on my ability to jump in, work on big challenges and have an impact.” Each day, Cregger said, he is energized by the fun of solving technical problems. While he worked for many months to resolve 787 side-of-body design issues, he was confident in the eventual outcome. Witnessing the first flight of the 787 Dreamliner from the flight line, he said, was the payoff for long hours spent searching for the fix. Spurred by an innate curiosity, Cregger said he is driven to figure out answers and solve problems not just locally but across the whole company. “I know I’m hooked when I’m fascinated in just finding the answer simply for the sake of knowing,” he said. n PHOTO: BOB FERGUSON/BOEING elizabeth.s.davis@boeing.com Frontiers May 2014 37
Frontiers May 2014 Issue
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