CSC elects Laphen CEO

Michael Laphen, president and chief operating officer of Computer Sciences Corporation, has been elected president and chief executive officer, succeeding Van Honeycutt. The top-level change took effect May 21, the company said.

Honeycutt, who has been with CSC 32 years, will remain company chairman until his term expires July 30 and then will have an ongoing consulting role, CSC said. Laphen will assume the chairmanship at that time.

Laphen joined CSC in 1977, and has held senior management positions in the commercial, public sector and international market areas. He was president of the company's Federal Sector-Civil Group, responsible for all CSC business with federal civil agencies. Before becoming president and COO in April 2003, he served as chief executive of CSC's European Group.

Honeycutt was named CEO in 1995 and chairman of the board in 1997. Under his leadership, CSC's revenue grew from $3.4 billion to more than $14 billion, and the market value increased from $2.6 billion to $9.4 billion, as reported for the fiscal quarter ending December 2006. He is credited with taking CSCs into the information technology outsourcing business in 1991, the principal growth engine of the company throughout the 1990s, according to the company.

CSC of El Segundo, Calif., has about 78,000 employees and had a revenue of $14.6 billion in 2006. The company ranks No. 11 on Washington Technology's 2007 Top 100 list of the largest federal government prime contractors.