As expected, Northrop Grumman on Tuesday said that its board has elected Kathy Warden as its chairman effective Aug. 1, adding to her current duties of president and CEO of the $30 billion defense company.
Warden succeeds Wes Bush, who has been the company’s chairman since July 2011. Bush will resign from the board effective July 31. Warden became CEO on Jan. 1, 2019, and previously was president and chief operating officer.
“We are excited to have Kathy Warden assume the role of chairman,” Donald Felsinger, lead independent director on the company’s board, said in a statement. “She has the full confidence of the board and our shareholders, customers and employees will greatly benefit from her leadership.”
Northrop Grumman is competing with Boeing to design the next-generation Ground-Based Strategic Deterrence (GBSD) intercontinental ballistic missile, which would replace the current Minuteman III fleet. The Department of Defense in 2017 awarded Northrop and Boeing three-year missile design contracts, which were worth $330 million and $350 million, respectively.
Northrop is also one of the parent companies to Consolidated Nuclear Security, the prime contractor for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Pantex weapons assembly plant in Amarillo, Texas, and its Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
Consolidated Nuclear Security is on the job at Y-12 through September 2021, after the NNSA in 2018 picked up a two-year option on the company’s contract. The Bechtel National-led incumbent took over Y-12 in 2014 and has options to stay on through October 2024. The 10-year deal’s average annual value is roughly $2 billion.
