General Dynamics completes transition to new leadership

Ten months in the making, General Dynamics Corp. today completed its transition from long-time chairman Nicholas Chabraja to its new chairman Jay Johnson.

Johnson was named chief executive officer in July 2009 when Chabraja gave up the post. Chabraja continued as chairman as part of the company’s succession plan.

Today Johnson was elected chairman by the company’s board of directors in a unanimous vote. Chabraja had been chairman since 1997.

Johnson had been vice chairman of the board since September 2008, when he joined the company as part of the succession plan in preparation for Chabraja’s retirement as CEO. Johnson has been a member of the General Dynamics board since 2003, while he was an executive of Dominion Virginia Power and Dominion Resources Inc.

Chabraja will remain on the General Dynamics board of directors. He joined the company in January 1993 as senior vice president and general counsel. He became executive vice president and joined the board of directors in 1994, before serving first as vice chairman and then chairman and chief executive officer from June 1997 until retiring as chief executive officer in June 2009.

General Dynamics, of Falls Church, Va., is ranked No. 4 on Washington Technology’s 2009 Top 100 list of the largest government contractors.