WASHINGTON — Roger Krone has stepped down as president of Boeing Network and Space Systems to take over as chief executive of Reston, Virginia-based Leidos Holdings Inc. come mid-July. He replaces John Jumper, the former U.S. Air Force chief of staff who will remain chairman of Leidos’ board of directors.
Boeing immediately promoted retired U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Craig Cooning to replace Krone as the head of its Network and Space Systems division. Cooning, as vice president and general manager of the division’s Space & Intelligence Systems unit, had reported to Krone. He will now report to Chris Chadwick, president and chief executive of Boeing Defense, Space & Security.
“Since joining Boeing nine years ago, Craig has led the impressive transformation of our satellite business into the undisputed market leader,” Chadwick said in a statement. “He will now help us differentiate our business through a strategy that’s rooted in affordability and deeper integration of information technology and security across our products and services.”
Krone, who become part of Boeing in 1997 when it merged with McDonnell Douglas, has served as president of Boeing Network and Space Systems since 2006. He oversaw a portfolio that includes Boeing’s commercial satellite business and leading roles on U.S. Missile Defense Agency’s Ground-based Midcourse Defense program, NASA’s international space station program and the Air Force’s Wideband Global Satcom system.
Krone also served on the board of United Launch Alliance, the Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture entangled in the lawsuit Space Exploration Systems Corp. filed in April to stop the Air Force from buying dozens of Atlas and Delta rocket cores. Krone’s ULA board seat now goes to Cooning, who finished his military career as the Air Force’s director of space acquisition.
Krone starts his new job July 14. Leidos Holdings is a publicly traded national security, health and engineering business spun off from Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) in 2013. Leidos has 22,000 employees and ended its fiscal year in January with $5.7 billion in revenue.
Lawrence Nussdorf, lead director of Leidos’ board of directors, said Krone’s selection followed “a thorough and extensive search” to replace Jumper, who announced in February that he would be stepping down as Leidos’ chief executive this year. Jumper joined SAIC in 2012 as president and chief executive, overseeing its 2013 split into two publicly traded companies: Leidos Holdings and a $4 billion government-services business that kept the SAIC name.
