Calvin Biesecker
Defense Daily
Northrop Grumman late Tuesday afternoon announced a number of forthcoming leadership changes, including the elevation of Kathy Warden to the position of president.
Wes Bush, Northrop Grumman’s chairman and CEO, is also president.
Warden, who is currently in charge of the company’s Mission Systems Sector, will become president and chief operating officer (COO) of the company on Jan. 1, 2018. Gloria Flach, Northrop Grumman’s current COO, is retiring at the end of this year. She is the company’s first female COO.
Warden joined Northrop Grumman in 2008 from General Dynamics [GD]. She also worked for Veridian, which GD acquired, and General Electric [GE]. She will oversee the company’s three operating sectors and the integration of Orbital ATK [OA] once the acquisition closes for that company next year.
Marc Caylor, who is currently president of Enterprise Services and Chief Strategy Officer for the company, will become president of Mission Systems at the start of next year.
In addition to Flach, Sid Ashworth is also retiring at the end of 2017. She leads the company’s Government Relations efforts. Prior to joining Northrop Grumman in 2011 when the company moved its corporate headquarters from California to Northern Virginia, Ashworth worked in Congress and executive branch agencies.
Shawn Purvis, who joined Northrop Grumman in 2012 from Science Applications International Corp. [SAIC], will become president of Enterprise Services on Jan. 1, 2018. She is currently the company’s chief information officer.
Lesley Kalan will become the new head of Government Relations for the company next year. She is currently in charge of legislative affairs for Northrop Grumman. Kalan has worked as a staffer for the defense panel of the Senate Appropriations Committee, in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and for the Cohen Group, a consulting firm led by former U.S. senator and Defense Secretary William Cohen.
Northrop is a partner in National Security Technologies LLC, the outgoing management and operations contractor nearing the end of its tenure at the Department of Energy’s Nevada National Security Site. The contract is set to end Nov. 30.
The company is also a support contractor for National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia: a Honeywell subsidiary that on May 1 took over management of the Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico.
On the other side of the weapons complex, Northrop is set to become a player at the Y-12 National Security Complex near Oak Ridge, Tenn., through its pending acquisition of Orbital ATK, of Dulles, Va. Orbital ATK is part of Y-12 incumbent management and operations prime Consolidated Nuclear Security. The deal is slated to close in the first half of 2018.
