Fellow Shipbuilders,

Tomorrow will mark the 139th anniversary of the founding of Newport News Shipbuilding. The legacy of “Always Good Ships” is an achievement we should all take tremendous pride and responsibility in preserving and strengthening.

Earlier this month, I shared that we would fully evaluate the good work that has been done to strengthen and improve our performance on our commitments, and also reassess efforts that may no longer add the value they once did. It has been a productive few weeks, and I appreciate the transparent communication across our team as we work to remove barriers that hold us back from excellence.

During this time, I have also had the opportunity to participate in my first Naval Reactors evaluation. I personally learned a lot from this experience, and considering the talent on this team, it makes sense that our certification to perform nuclear work was renewed. However, because we strive for excellence, we will always find room for improvement and learning.

Based on what we have learned over the last several weeks through candid discussions within our team and with our other stakeholders, I believe our immediate strategic opportunities are as follows:

• Renew our commitment to quality and sharpen our focus on process excellence.
• Create a central Operations organization with more shipbuilder career paths.
• Simplify our reporting structure and improve all support to the waterfront.

With this in mind, I believe it necessary to make the following organizational changes in the coming weeks:

• Karey Malyszko will continue to serve as the vice president of Quality, which going forward will also include Process Excellence & Plant Operations. She will take on not just the strengthening of our commitment to quality, but also a focus on core shipbuilding processes to drive performance and risk-based assessment of our work to enable data-driven improvements in the critical infrastructure that supports the work we do.
• Lucas Hicks will lead us in centralizing the critical skills and processes associated with nuclear shipbuilding as the vice president of Operations, which includes trades, construction management and shop manufacturing. In addition, Lucas will identify trade director roles for each of the important skills necessary to our business and, by doing so, create opportunities for our shop and ship craftsmen and women to pursue new heights in their careers.
• Brian Fields will be assembling his team in the coming weeks as the new vice president and Chief Technology Officer, focused on improving the support to our shipbuilders through technology and better ways of getting our work done.

In summary, these moves will get after the strategic opportunities on our immediate landscape, but we must also simplify our program structure to find efficiencies with our customers. As such, the following changes are also occurring:

• Program vice president Jason Ward will now be responsible for all new construction submarine programs.
• Derek Murphy will now be the program vice president for all new construction carriers.
• Rob Check and Thomasina Wright will continue to have responsibility for in-service carriers and fleet support, respectively.
• The program vice presidents will continue reporting to Bryan Caccavale, vice president of Program Management.

While change is sometimes difficult, I do believe that these changes will make us better. I ask for your continued support by working together, embracing feedback and providing excellent service to one another and our customers. Shipbuilding is a team sport, and it takes all of us doing our part to make our shipyard the best it can be.

With much respect,

Kari Wilkinson,
President, Newport News Shipbuilding