Northrop Grumman Elects Charles Noski As CFO; Waugh To Retire

Abstract

[Charles Noski] has known Northrop Grumman Chairman, CEO and President Ron Sugar since mid 1990s when Sugar was CFO of then-TRW and Noski was at Hughes. As to what may be left to do as far as completing the integration of TRW, which Northrop Grumman acquired last December, Noski said that from his perch on the Board, everything has gone well. "As member of management coming on, those quite frankly are the kinds of questions I'll want to go to work on to understand. I don't have any reason to believe that everything is going other than fine."

Northrop Grumman [NOC] yesterday said its Board of Directors has elected Charles Noski, 51, to be its next chief financial officer (CFO) beginning Dec. 1, succeeding Richard Waugh, 60, who has decided to retire.

Noski, a Northrop Grumman Board member since last December, has twice been a CFO before, first with Hughes Electronics Corp. [GMH] from 1992 until he 1999 when he joined AT&T [ATT] as its finance chief. He retired from AT&T in Nov. 2002 as CFO and vice chairman of the Board.

Noski sees his challenges as pretty straightforward, made easier by the fact that the company has "assembled a set of assets almost unparalleled for the defense industry."

"The challenge ahead is to ensure the businesses of Northrop Grumman are running as well as they possibly can, our customers are pleased with the work we're doing for them and with the products and services we're providing," he said in a brief interview. "And of course, from an investor perspective, that we're delivering consistent, predictable results and solid earnings and solid earnings growth."

Noski has known Northrop Grumman Chairman, CEO and President Ron Sugar since mid 1990s when Sugar was CFO of then-TRW and Noski was at Hughes. As to what may be left to do as far as completing the integration of TRW, which Northrop Grumman acquired last December, Noski said that from his perch on the Board, everything has gone well. "As member of management coming on, those quite frankly are the kinds of questions I'll want to go to work on to understand. I don't have any reason to believe that everything is going other than fine."

In addition to serving on Northrop Grumman's Board, Noski serves on the Boards of Air Products & Chemicals [APD] and Teledyne Technologies [TDY], and last month was nominated to Microsoft's [MSFT] Board. Waugh has been with Northrop Grumman for 25 years, serving as CFO for over 10.

"Dick is an outstanding financial executive who, working with Kent Kresa, Northrop Grumman's former chairman, CEO and president, played an invaluable role in implementing the strategic transformation of Northrop Grumman into the top-tier defense enterprise it is today," Sugar said in a statement.