Coffman to retire, Stevens to lead Lockheed Martin

Vance Coffman, chairman and chief executive officer of Lockheed Martin Corp., plans to retire as CEO on Aug. 6, the company announced today.

Coffman has been with the company for 37 years, the last seven as CEO. Robert Stevens, the current president and chief operating officer, was named by the company's board as Coffman's successor.

The 59-year-old Coffman plans to remain as chairman of the board until April 2005, the company said.

"We are pleased that Vance Coffman will serve as our CEO through July and then continue as our chairman until the 2005 annual meeting," Presiding Director James Ukropina said. "This will ensure an orderly transition of leadership."

When Coffman took the reins of the company in 1997, Lockheed Martin was struggling to integrate the more than 20 acquisitions that had created the company.

He is credited by many with cleaning up the company's balance sheet through restructuring and divestitures, and in recent years the company has embarked on more acquisitions.

Many of those deals have been in the information technology arena, including OAO Corp. and the federal business of Affiliatied Computer Services Inc. A deal for Titan Corp. is pending.

In 2003, the company had $31.8 billion in revenue and was ranked No. 1 on Washington Technology's Top 100 list of federal IT contractors.