AeroVironment promotes executive to CFO

Arlington County-based defense contractor AeroVironment has promoted Sean T. Woodward to executive vice president and chief financial officer, effective May 1.

Woodward will succeed current CFO Kevin McDonnell, who is retiring on July 31, the company announced Monday. McDonnell plans to stay with the company for a few months after Woodward becomes CFO to help ensure a smooth transition of responsibilities.

Woodward joined AeroVironment in 2010 and, over the next 15 years, held a range of finance and leadership roles. He currently serves as CFO of the company’s Autonomous Systems segment, overseeing financial planning and analysis, pricing, cost estimating and compliance with government accounting requirements.

In a statement, AeroVironment President and CEO Wahid Nawabi described Woodward as having “deep institutional knowledge” and praised him for being “instrumental” in helping the company achieve growth goals.

“Sean has played a critical role in commercializing several of our high-growth products, which are now key franchises for the company,” Nawabi said. “His leadership has strengthened our finance organization while supporting AV’s expansion and integration efforts — a critical attribute that will play an increasingly important role as we internally build our systems and processes enabling AV to effectively scale. I look forward to continuing to work with Sean in his new role as CFO as we execute our growth strategy and deliver shareholder value.”

According to his LinkedIn profile, before joining AeroVironment, Woodward spent five years as a program control analyst at General Dynamics and roughly a year and a half as a program planning and control analyst at Honeywell Aerospace.

Woodward has a bachelor’s degree in business management from the University of South Florida and an MBA with a concentration in finance from the University of Tampa.

“I am honored to step into the role of CFO and look forward to building on our strong financial foundation,” said Woodward in a statement. “I am focused on continued collaboration with our leadership team in support of AV’s growth priorities to ensure the company remains well-positioned for its next phase of execution.”

McDonnell, who joined AeroVironment in 2020, announced his retirement in February.