More changes take hold on Mercury's board

The activist investor with a noticeable stake in and pushing for change at Mercury Systems now has representation on its board of directors, which is also getting a new chairman amid several leadership changes.

Mercury said Thursday that the board has elected Scott Ostfield, a managing partner at Jana Partners, which owns approximately 8% of the company's stock, as a new board member. Interim chief executive Bill Ballhaus will assume the role of board chairman, effective immediately prior to the 2023 annual meeting of Mercury's shareholders.

Significant change has taken place at Mercury since the board's late June announcement of the end its formal effort to find an acquirer, which coincided with the departure of then-CEO Mark Aslett after 15 years at the helm.

The board subsequently appointed Ballhaus as acting CEO and added two new members in Roger Krone and Jerry DeMuro, respectively the former CEOs of Leidos and BAE Systems Inc.

Also in Mercury's Thursday release: current board member Mary Louise Krakauer has decided to retire from the board. That move follows the prior announcement of board chairman William O'Brien's own retirement plans.

Krakauer's departure from the board means that Howard Lance, the former Harris Corp. and Maxar Technologies CEO, will become chair of the board's human capital and compensation committee.

Ostfeld will sit on the board's human capital and compensation and M&A and finance committees. He will also be involved in the CEO search process.

As a result of these changes, Mercury's board will reduce its size by two seats to become a nine-member panel.