WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Boeing Commercial Airplanes quality chief Elizabeth Lund -- who has spearheaded the planemaker's improvement plans -- will retire in December, the company said Monday.

Elizabeth Lund, a 33-year veteran Boeing, had been named to the new position of senior vice president of quality for its commercial planes in February after the crisis sparked by the Jan. 5 mid-air panel blowout of a new Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9. In June, the NTSB said Boeing violated investigation rules when Lund provided non-public information to media and speculated about possible causes.