CEO Lisa Atherton is leading Fort Worth’s iconic Bell Textron at pivotal moment
Lisa Atherton, the president and CEO of Bell Textron Inc., leads a multi-billion dollar company with one simple philosophy: Win every day.
It’s a motto she recently shared with a group of high schoolers who are interning at the Fort Worth-based aerospace and defense company.
“I was like, you have to really focus on whatever that task is that day. You have to get in there and just crush that task,” Atherton said.
And with the tasks at hand for Bell, the stakes couldn’t be higher.
In 2022, the company won a highly competitive federal contract worth tens of billions of dollars to build the U.S. Army’s next-generation helicopter, replacing the iconic Black Hawk first used in combat in Grenada in 1983. Bell’s prototype, the V-280 Valor, is a tiltrotor aircraft that exceeds in every way the capabilities of today’s military choppers. The company will build components for the aircraft in a $632 million factory under construction in far north Fort Worth.
The contract has the potential to be as transformative for Bell — and Fort Worth — as the F-35 fighter jet contract that Lockheed Martin won almost 25 years ago.
Bell has been an economic engine for the city since 1951, when industrialist Larry Bell moved his Bell Aircraft Corp. from Buffalo, New York, to a new plant here — the world’s first factory designed specifically for helicopter manufacturing. About 2,600 people worked there in 1952, a number that has steadily grown over seven decades.
Though Bell’s aircraft are used for commercial and defense purposes around the world, its Fort Worth roots continue to shape what Atherton has described as “truly a Texas company.”
“I think just the grit that we have here in the city of Fort Worth, it permeates all the way through our company,” Atherton said.
Becoming a leader
At the eastern edge of Fort Worth, helicopters zip through the skies above Bell’s headquarters like bees circling a hive, zooming in and out of view from Atherton’s corner office.
The Florida native was named president and CEO of Bell in April 2023. For much of her career, she never envisioned herself as a chief executive, but those around her knew she would excel in a leadership role.
She is no stranger to the inner workings of the defense sector. She was a contracting officer in the U.S. Air Force and spent eight years at Air Combat Command’s Directorate of Requirements, helping shape budgets and operational requirements.
She joined Textron in 2009 and worked in a variety of roles including president and CEO of Textron Systems and chief operating officer at Bell.
Atherton described the issues she’s tasked with solving at Bell at “bigger and bolder” than those she’s faced in previous roles. Product quality and safety are at the heart of the company’s work; its aircraft, used by first-responders and militaries around the globe, need to be reliable.
“Our customers do some of the most important work out there, that when you are in places that are dirty and dangerous, you can count on a Bell product to get you where you need to go and get you out of where you are,” Atherton said.
The challenge of the company’s mission isn’t lost on Atherton. Creating any helicopter means harnessing the laws of physics to quite literally beat the air into submission with just a few rotor blades. Succeeding in the aerospace industry requires ingenuity, skill and the efficiency to bring a product to market.
“We know how to take something, innovate on it, build it, test it, move to the next thing,” Atherton said.
She starts her week by meeting with Bell’s leadership team to go over various segments of the business. The remainder is spent addressing customer-related issues, which can be as varied as appearing before a local city council or meeting with foreign dignitaries.
“We keep a cadence in order to keep a continual update into the business, and then I like to keep a cadence where I can get information to me, because the worst thing in the world is that people feel like they didn’t have an opportunity to raise their hand and say, ‘Hey, I need some help,’” Atherton said.
Her advice to aspiring leaders? Don’t focus on yourself — make sure your teammates stand out.
“If you make sure you’re taking care of the person to the left and to the right of you, and making sure they’re wildly successful, then they’re going to do the same for you, and ultimately, you will find your path as a result,” Atherton said.
The Army’s new Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft
With revenue topping $3.5 billion last year, Bell made up about 26% of Textron’s total revenue in 2024, the second-highest among the company’s six business segments. The company employs over 4,000 people in the Metroplex, a number expected to grow as it begins producing a new aircraft for the U.S. Army.
Bell’s Army contract for the V-280, now referred to as the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft, could be worth up to $70 billion over the aircraft’s lifespan, depending on how many are purchased.
The FLRAA (pronounced flare-uh) will replace the Black Hawk, long known as the Army’s “workhorse” aircraft, which has been used since the 1970s. In 2023, the Army had about 2,100 Black Hawk helicopters, more than double any other aircraft it has.
A tiltrotor aircraft, the FLRAA can take off or land vertically and fly at over 300 mph. It’s designed to fly twice as fast, and twice as far, as the Army’s existing fleet. Boeing and Lockheed Martin, the parent company of Black Hawk maker Sikorsky, also competed for the highly coveted contract.
“I think the Army is going to embrace this, and they’re going to see where it just changes the way they fight, and we’ll be back to kind of where we were in the Korea, Vietnam era, as far as the magnitude of Bell products in their portfolio,” Atherton said.
The Army designated the FLRAA the MV-75 in late May. “MV” stands for multi-mission vertical takeoff, while the 75 comes from the Army’s 1775 founding. The Army is considering a “legacy name” for the aircraft, which typically honors a Native American tribe (Black Hawk is the legacy name for the UH-60 helicopter).
Being part of FLRAA production means Fort Worth will be home to facilities integral to making two of the military’s preeminent aircraft — the FLRAA and the F-35. For 25 years, Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth F-35 assembly plant has drawn suppliers and defense contractors to the region. It’s also become a magnet for engineers and highly skilled manufacturing workers.
Bell’s new factory in far north Fort Worth
Bell’s new factory to build components for the FLRAA is at 15100 N. Beach St. in the AllianceTexas development. The property was previously a Stanley Black & Decker facility.
Bell’s $632 million plant is expected to create over 500 jobs. Components for the high-tech aircraft will be made there. Low-rate production at the manufacturing hub is expected to begin in 2028.
The FLRAA will be assembled in Amarillo and tested in Grand Prairie and Arlington. The fuselage will be assembled in Wichita, Kansas.
The Army accepted its first FLRAA virtual prototype on June 24. The device will be used as a learning tool and enable the Army to provide to Bell feedback on the aircraft’s systems.
Bell’s history in Fort Worth is part of why it chose to build the manufacturing facility here.
The company is celebrating its 90th birthday this year, going back to its founding in Buffalo by Larry Bell.
“We have grown talent, we have grown roots and history here, and what we do when you’re doing rotors and gear boxes and things of very complex design, there is goodness in having your engineering and your manufacturing near each other, especially when it’s those critical components and parts,” Atherton said.
Hefty incentives packages from the city and the state were also a strong lure. The Fort Worth City Council approved over $47 million in economic incentives. Bell is slated to receive tax breaks from the state through the Jobs, Energy, Technology and Innovation Act program, or JETI.
Though new tariffs are still being rolled out and the Trump administration is looking into changing the federal contracting process, Atherton said Bell is staying focused on what they can control — building aircraft.
“I have to focus on making sure that we meet our commitments, we meet our deadlines, and we try to focus the team on that,” Atherton said. “That said, I do think our men and women in uniform deserve the best, and we owe it to them to get it to them as quickly as possible.”
The now-CEO said she never dreamed she’d lead the company, particularly at such a pivotal moment. Atherton said she loves her work, a feeling she believes is shared by Bell’s employees who continue to inspire her every day.
“There’s a passion here that is just unparalleled, and I think it’s just pretty wicked cool to get to do what I get to do,” she said. “I think most folks that you run across with Bell badges would say and feel the same way.”
This story was originally published July 2, 2025 at 5:30 AM.
