Ingalls chief Wilkinson to lead Newport News shipbuilding for nuclear subs

Huntington Ingalls Industries Wednesday named Kari Wilkinson, currently president of the company’s Ingalls Shipbuilding segments, as the incoming president of its nuclear shipbuilding operations in Virginia effective Jan. 1, 2025.

The Newport News segment is HII’s largest, generating $6.1 billion in sales in 2023. Newport News has more than 26,000 shipbuilders. The business builds and maintains the Navy’s aircraft carriers, and is the main partner to General Dynamics for the service’s Virginia-class nuclear attack submarines and the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine program.

Wilkinson will succeed Jennifer Boykin as president of Newport News Shipbuilding. Boykin is retiring and the leadership transition is part of HII’s long-term succession process, a company spokesman said.

Wilkinson has led Ingalls since 2021 and began her career with the division in 1996 as an associate naval architect. Before taking the helm at Ingalls, she was vice president of program management, responsible for bottom-line “elements of program execution” and was the liaison with the Navy and Coast Guard for division’s programs with these customers.

Boykin was named president of Newport News in 2017. She will remain with the company until March 2025 as an adviser to help with the transition.

Wilkinson will inherit a business awaiting a hoped-for multi-boat contract for Virginia and Columbia-class submarines that bakes in higher pay for shipbuilders and infrastructure investments the company says are necessary to maintain and train its workforce and increase throughput capacity.

A version of this story first appeared in Exchange Monitor affiliate publication Defense Daily.