TASC names new CEO

TASC CEO Wood Parker retires and the board names David Langstaff as CEO.

TASC Inc. has named its chairman David Langstaff as the company's new CEO.

Langstaff, who will relinquish the chairman’s title, replaced Wood Parker, who is retiring. Parker will join TASC’s board of directors as vice chairman, company officials said.

The chairman spot will be filled by another board member, Peter Marino.

Langstaff’s move to the CEO spot marks a return to the executive suite for the longtime player in the market. Langstaff is the former president and CEO of Veridian, a company he built through the 1990s and early 2000s before selling the company to General Dynamics in 2003.

With TASC, he takes the reins of a company with a long track record of providing high-end technical and advisory services to the government, particularly in the intelligence market.

TASC has survived as a distinct entity even when acquired by larger companies. Litton Industries acquired TASC and then Northrop Grumman acquired Litton Industries, yet TASC remained as its own operating division.

Northrop Grumman was forced to sell TASC in 2009 to comply with more stringent organizational conflicts of interest requirements.

The private equity groups General Atlantic and KKR acquired TASC for $1.6 billion. Parker, who ran the TASC business under Northrop Grumman, became CEO after the sale.