HII names two legislative affairs execs

Newport News-based Huntington Ingalls Industries has promoted Peter Courtney to corporate vice president of legislative affairs and hired Betsy Bina Benedict as director of legislative affairs.

Courtney was previously HII’s director of legislative affairs and takes the place of Carolyn Apostolou, who retired in December 2023. He will work from the Arlington County office and report to Stewart Holmes, HII’s executive vice president of government and customer relations. Benedict will report to Courtney.

Courtney will be responsible for the development of HII’s lobbying strategy and implementation of lobbying activity, with a general focus on U.S. Senate members, staff and committees of jurisdiction. In addition to shaping legislative proposals, he will also be responsible for ensuring compliance with all Federal Election Commission and other legal and regulatory disclosure requirements regarding lobbying.

Before joining HII, he served 24 years in the U.S. Navy, most recently serving as deputy director of the Appropriations Matters office in the office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1990 and has a bachelor’s degree in political science, a master’s degree in national security affairs from the Naval War College and an MBA from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia.

Benedict previously served in a variety of legislative and policy positions in Congress, including 13 years with the House Appropriations Committee. She was most recently clerk for the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies. She graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and has a master’s degree in national security studies from the Army War College and a master’s degree in government from Johns Hopkins University.

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.