Leidos president and COO steps down

Leidos president and chief operating officer Stu Shea is stepping down from his post, effective April 6.

His departure was the result of mutual decision reached by Shea, chairman and CEO John Jumper and the Leidos board of directors.

Shea played a pivotal role in transitioning the split of the old SAIC into two new businesses, with one keeping the name SAIC and the other adopting the name Leidos.

Shea’s departure comes while Leidos is still in the midst of its search for a new CEO to replace Jumper, who announced his retirement last month.

The company declined to comment on the reason why he is departing other than what was said by Jumper during a recent earnings call: "Stu, the board of directors, and I have mutually agreed that now is a good time for Stu to pursue new interests beyond Leidos," Jumper said.

With both the chairman and CEO and now the COO departing, the company is poised for new leadership, it said in a release.

Before his tenure at SAIC, Shea served as vice president in the TASC business unit at Northrop Grumman. Before Northrop Grumman, Shea worked as vice president and director of Imagery & Geospatial Systems at TASC.