NG Shipbuilding gets two new VPs

NEWPORT NEWS, Va., April 29 (UPI) -- U.S. company Northrop Grumman has picked two new vice presidents to help run its shipbuilding sector.

The company said in a statement Friday that it had named Doug Fontaine as its Shipbuilding sector vice president and controller and Tom Johnston as sector vice president of contracts and pricing. Both executives will work out of Newport News, Va., and will be responsible to Barbara Niland, chief financial officer and vice president of business management, the statement said.

Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding was recently formed by amalgamating Northrop Grumman's Ship Systems and Newport News shipbuilding organizations.

Johnston will direct contracts, pricing and export/import licensing and compliance for the Shipbuilding sector and Fontaine will direct accounting; financial planning and reporting; overhead budgets and rates; and earned value reporting for the sector, the company said.

"Doug and Tom bring knowledge, leadership and experience to their respective positions," Niland said. "These characteristics will enhance and integrate the business management organization across our sector."

Johnston has a bachelor's degree in business administration from Towson University and rose through a series of posts in contracts, finance and business management at Lockheed Martin before he moved to Northrop Grumman in 2003 as vice president of contracts and pricing for the former Newport News sector.

Fontaine qualified as a certified public accountant with a bachelor's degree in business management from the University of Mississippi. He has worked for Northrop Grumman since 1988, joining it as a financial analyst for its former Ingalls Shipbuilding operation and rose through different positions in business management. Fontaine has been Northrop Grumman's Shipbuilding sector's vice president and business manager, responsible for the pricing and estimating organization as well as the business manager for the operations, engineering and quality assurance and process improvement organizations, the company said.