Moody selected as Force Protection CEO

LADSON, S.C., March 5 (UPI) -- South Carolina-based armored vehicle maker Force Protection says it has officially appointed a new chief executive officer.

Officials named Michael Moody to head Force Protection after a formal search process conducted by the board of directors. Company officials elevated Moody, the company's president, to interim CEO after current CEO Gordon McGilton announced plans to retire. With the announcement, Moody officially becomes Force Protection's CEO, chairman and president at a time when the company is mapping out a new strategy to expand its market reach.

"I am very proud to take this position with Force Protection," Moody said in a statement. "Recent events have clearly underlined that there is a tremendous amount of work to do and that there is significant urgency to many of the tasks at hand.

"I believe deeply in the importance and quality of our products and in the opportunities provided by our niche orientation in the survivability market. It is our intent to utilize the strength of our product offerings to both reinforce our position in the tactical wheeled vehicle space and to diversify our business into other categories of survivability products."

Force Protection has become a major defense contractor providing the U.S. military and its allies anti-ballistic mine resistant ambush protected vehicles. The Defense Department has contracted the company for the MRAP vehicles in an initiative to protect soldiers from threats like improvised explosive devices in Iraq and Afghanistan.