Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Wall Street Journal
May 8, 2008
Pg. B7
By August Cole
General Dynamics Corp. named Dominion Virginia Power Chief Jay Johnson, a former top U.S. Navy officer, to become the defense company's next chief executive.
Mr. Johnson, 61 years old, will take over the CEO spot from General Dynamics Chairman and Chief Executive Nick Chabraja on July 1, 2009. Mr. Chabraja is expected to remain chairman until May 2010.
"In my role as chairman, I will continue to provide overall strategic and organizational guidance and will assist management as requested," said Mr. Chabraja in a statement Wednesday.
Mr. Johnson, a former U.S. Navy chief of naval operations and aviator who left the service in 2000, has been on the General Dynamics board for five years. "I'm moving from one great company to another, and am excited about this opportunity to expand my relationship with this tremendous corporation," Mr. Johnson said in a statement. He will become vice chairman of the General Dynamics board and a company officer on Sept. 2.
Rather than publicly grooming a subordinate for the top job, Mr. Chabraja, 65, steadfastly held onto the role as the company's emissary to the investment community since becoming CEO in 1997. Last month, he foreshadowed the announcement when he told analysts that he had his successor picked and would soon take the decision to the board.
The choice of an executive in his 60s to succeed Mr. Chabraja raises the possibility that General Dynamics's board may still be keeping its eyes out for a suitor to take the job longer term, although the company doesn't have a mandatory retirement age of 65. Phebe Novakovic, a former senior Defense Department official and General Dynamics's current senior vice president for planning and development, had been mentioned as possible contender.
Mr. Johnson will be taking the reins from a chief executive who earned a reputation as a no-nonsense leader who oversaw a sixfold increase in sales in just more than a decade. The Falls Church, Va., aerospace-and-defense company posted more than $27 billion in revenue in 2007, making products ranging from Gulfstream jets to submarines and armored vehicles.
The company's Gulfstream jets are highly sought after around the world, and its armored vehicles are in demand because of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The company's order backlog rose to almost $50 billion at the end of the first quarter.
But with a change in administration next year and concerns about weapons spending in the face of high war costs, the job will require navigating Washington's political currents as well as being able to manage the complexities of the company's nuclear shipyards and aircraft assembly lines.
May 8, 2008
Pg. B7
By August Cole
General Dynamics Corp. named Dominion Virginia Power Chief Jay Johnson, a former top U.S. Navy officer, to become the defense company's next chief executive.
Mr. Johnson, 61 years old, will take over the CEO spot from General Dynamics Chairman and Chief Executive Nick Chabraja on July 1, 2009. Mr. Chabraja is expected to remain chairman until May 2010.
"In my role as chairman, I will continue to provide overall strategic and organizational guidance and will assist management as requested," said Mr. Chabraja in a statement Wednesday.
Mr. Johnson, a former U.S. Navy chief of naval operations and aviator who left the service in 2000, has been on the General Dynamics board for five years. "I'm moving from one great company to another, and am excited about this opportunity to expand my relationship with this tremendous corporation," Mr. Johnson said in a statement. He will become vice chairman of the General Dynamics board and a company officer on Sept. 2.
Rather than publicly grooming a subordinate for the top job, Mr. Chabraja, 65, steadfastly held onto the role as the company's emissary to the investment community since becoming CEO in 1997. Last month, he foreshadowed the announcement when he told analysts that he had his successor picked and would soon take the decision to the board.
The choice of an executive in his 60s to succeed Mr. Chabraja raises the possibility that General Dynamics's board may still be keeping its eyes out for a suitor to take the job longer term, although the company doesn't have a mandatory retirement age of 65. Phebe Novakovic, a former senior Defense Department official and General Dynamics's current senior vice president for planning and development, had been mentioned as possible contender.
Mr. Johnson will be taking the reins from a chief executive who earned a reputation as a no-nonsense leader who oversaw a sixfold increase in sales in just more than a decade. The Falls Church, Va., aerospace-and-defense company posted more than $27 billion in revenue in 2007, making products ranging from Gulfstream jets to submarines and armored vehicles.
The company's Gulfstream jets are highly sought after around the world, and its armored vehicles are in demand because of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The company's order backlog rose to almost $50 billion at the end of the first quarter.
But with a change in administration next year and concerns about weapons spending in the face of high war costs, the job will require navigating Washington's political currents as well as being able to manage the complexities of the company's nuclear shipyards and aircraft assembly lines.