Huntington Ingalls to get new board chairman

The chairman of Huntington Ingalls Industries' board of directors will step down after serving in the role since the company's spinoff and a successor has been named.

Retired Adm. Thomas Fargo will retire as chairman of the Huntington Ingalls Industries board of directors after the company’s next annual shareholder meeting scheduled for April 28.

The board has elected another retired Navy admiral in Kirkland Donald as the next chairman in a move effective that same day, HII said Wednesday.

A 35-year Navy veteran, Fargo has been chairman from HII’s very beginning as an independent company in 2011 after the shipbuilder spun out of then-parent Northrop Grumman. He is a former commander of Pacific Command.

Donald served in the Navy for 37 years and during his career has led the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, Naval Submarine Forces, Submarine Force, Atlantic Fleet and Allied Submarine Command.

He retired from the Navy in 2013 and then joined Systems Planning and Analysis, where he became chief operating officer and later its CEO before his retirement from that company.