Newport News Shipbuilding names trades VP

Newport News Shipbuilding has promoted a third-generation shipbuilder to vice president of trades.

David Horne has served since 2022 as senior director of trades. His promotion comes following a split of the shipbuilder’s human resources and administration department and trades department into two standalone groups. Xavier Beale, who held both roles, will continue as vice president of human resources and administration.

“Each part of this organization is critical to our success,” shipyard President Jennifer Boykin said in a statement. “Our human resources and administration team must focus on hiring, retention and development of employees, while the trades team must focus on safely and efficiently executing our work volume. Based on these changing dynamics, I am restructuring these teams back into standalone organizations to reflect the scope of responsibility and leadership bandwidth required for each.”

Horne began his shipbuilding career in 1983 as a welder prior to entering the Newport News Shipbuilding Apprentice School as a pipefitter. He has also worked at the shipbuilder as a production department refueling manager, refueling trade superintendent, trade director and program trade director. Horne is a 1989 honors graduate of the Apprentice School and has a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Christopher Newport University and a master’s degree in engineering management from Florida Institute of Technology.

Newport News-based Huntington Ingalls Industries is the nation’s largest military shipbuilder. The Fortune 500 company employs more than 44,000 workers and is Virginia’s largest industrial employer. Its Newport News Shipbuilding division is the United States’ only manufacturer of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.