Federal Contractors | Technology 2024: CHRISTOPHER D. KASTNER

A graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Pepperdine University, Kastner was tapped as Huntington Ingalls Industries’ president and CEO in March 2022. HII reported revenue of $11.5 billion last year, a 7.3% increase from 2022, and a total project backlog of $43.1 billion as of Dec. 31, 2023.

The Fortune 500 company is the nation’s largest military shipbuilding company and owns Newport News Shipbuilding, Virginia’s largest industrial employer, with about 25,000 workers.

HII’s current history began in 2011 when parent company Northrop Grumman spun out its entire shipbuilding portfolio, including Huntington Ingalls and Newport News Shipbuilding. Before joining HII, Kastner was vice president and chief financial officer for Ingalls Shipbuilding.

Already looking to add 3,000 jobs this year, NNS expanded its footprint last year to an 8-acre satellite campus at Fairwinds Landing in Norfolk. The campus expects to have 150 employees this year. NNS has invested more than $25 million there and could spend as much as $100 million in five years.

HII’s technical solutions division, renamed Mission Technologies in 2022, has grown massively since its establishment in 2016, and the company is now heavily focused on artificial intelligence, machine learning, cybersecurity and unmanned systems.