NEWPORT NEWS—Huntington Ingalls Industry’s Newport News Shipbuilding division recently announced several promotions that hope to result in the optimization of operations and accelerate transformation and execution.
“We have been on an aggressive journey to transform the way we run our business,” said Newport News Shipbuilding President Jennifer Boykin. “Accomplishing this transformation while running our complex business is not a simple task. Our Navy customer expects us to deliver ships on time and on budget so they can meet the evolving demands of the global security environment. Our ultimate success depends on the acceleration of these efforts led by experienced leaders.”
To support the transformation, Boykin announced several leadership changes, effectively immediately.
Matt Needy moves to vice president and chief transformation officer from vice president of Navy programs. In this new position, the 34-year shipyard veteran is responsible for the overall Newport News strategy execution, advanced development of business growth—including the next-generation attack submarine SSN(X)—enterprise-wide continuous improvement, overall operational health, and risk-opportunity management.
Bryan Caccavale will take over Needy’s position as vice president of Navy programs from his previous position as vice president of material and manufacturing. In his new role, Caccavale’s diverse leadership and strong financial experience will benefit program execution and financial performance of the ships built and maintained by Newport News Shipbuilding.
Additionally, the material and manufacturing parts of Newport News Shipbuilding are being restructured back into two stand-alone divisions. Julia Jones remains as vice president of manufacturing while Cullen Glass moves to vice president of supply chain management from his position as director of supply chain procurement. In this role, Glass is now responsible for all procurement, outsourcing, and material logistics functions across Newport News Shipbuilding.
These leadership changes build on a multi-year shipyard modernization effort to enable safe and efficient delivery of the highest quality aircraft carriers and submarines. The modernization effort, including the shipyard’s Integrated Digital Shipbuilding program, has been instrumental in the recent completion of the first USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) planned incremental availability, launch of Virginia-class submarine New Jersey (SSN 796), and construction of the first digitally designed and built Ford-class carrier Enterprise (CVN 80).