Anderson steps down as head of Northrop's IT business

Herb Anderson, head of Northrop Grumman Corp.'s information technology sector, is stepping down May 1 in keeping with the company's retirement policies.

James O'Neill has been tapped by the board of directors to assume Anderson's position as corporate vice president and president of Northrop Grumman IT, a $4.8 billion unit of the Los Angeles-based defense contractor.

Anderson, 64, will stay with the company through Nov. 1, serving as corporate vice president in charge of special projects for Ronald Sugar, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Northrop Grumman. Anderson will then retire at age 65 in accordance with company policy for officers.

When Anderson took over Northrop Grumman's IT business in 1994, the unit had $300 million in annual revenue. Since that time, he has led the integration of numerous acquisitions including Logicon Inc. and the PRC and TASC units of Litton Industries Inc.

Northrop Grumman placed No. 2 on Washington Technology's 2003 Top 100, which ranks government information technology contractors.

O'Neill, 50, currently serves as president of the TASC business unit, which focuses on the intelligence, space and enterprise security markets.

"Jim has been a leading high-technology executive for more than 25 years,"
Sugar said in a statement. "His extensive experience in meeting the needs of the United States government and commercial customers makes him ideally qualified to lead our important IT sector. Put simply, he's a proven executive who knows our customer base, and we look forward to his leadership."

Prior to joining the Northrop Grumman in 2002, O'Neill worked for companies including Oracle Corp., Lucent Technologies Inc. and Digital Equipment Corp.