GD exec retires, new leader named

General Dynamics is promoting S. Daniel Johnson to replace David Heebner as executive vice president of the company’s Information Systems and Technology group when Heebner retires on Dec. 31, 2014.

Johnson will continue in his role as president of General Dynamics Information Technology, which together with General Dynamics Mission Systems makes up the company’s Information Systems and Technology group. He has been president of GDIT since 2008.

Johnson joined General Dynamics when the company acquired Anteon Corp. in 2005, where Johnson served as chief operating officer since 2003. Before Anteon, he ran the government business at BearingPoint Inc. and was a partner at KPMG. A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Johnson served in the Navy from 1969 to 1975.

Upon his retirement, Heebner will end a 14-year career with General Dynamics, starting out as a vice president of strategic planning in January 2000. In 2002, he became vice president of planning and development, and from 2005 to 2008, he served as president of General Dynamics Land Systems. In 2010, Heebner took on the role of executive vice president and group executive for Combat Systems before ultimately becoming group executive of the Information Systems and Technology group in 2013, the company said.

Heebner spent 33 years in the Army before joining the company, retiring at the rank of lieutenant general.