By Tess Stynes
Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC) named Kenneth L. Bedingfield as its
new chief financial officer, effective in February, which will be
after the planned filing of the defense contractor's annual report
for 2014.
Mr. Bedingfield, who joined the company in 2011 and is currently
a finance executive, will succeed current finance chief James F.
Palmer, who plans to retire in the summer. Mr. Palmer plans to
continue as a corporate vice president until then, to assist with
the transition.
Chairman and Chief Executive Wes Bush said that Mr. Palmer, the
company's CFO for the past eight years, has been "instrumental in
our drive to improve performance, optimize our portfolio and
strategically deploy our resources."
Mr. Bedingfield's previous experience includes serving as
finance chief for Northrop Grumman's aerosystems business and as a
controller and chief accounting officer for the company. Prior to
joining the defense contractor, his experience includes 17 years at
KPMG LLP, most recently as the national client leader of its U.S.
aerospace and defense audit practice.
Northrop, the world's fifth-largest defense contractor by sales,
is a specialist in unmanned aerial vehicles and in electronic
surveillance and intelligence systems. The company in October
reported a 5% decrease in third-quarter earnings as the company
worked to reduce pension costs. Still, the company raised its
guidance for the year after reporting results that beat Wall Street
expectations.
Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com
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