CEO of BAE Systems will retire in 2014

Linda P. Hudson, president and CEO of BAE Systems Inc. since 2009, will retire from the company next year.

To assist in the transition of a new CEO, the company said Tuesday that Hudson has agreed to stay on through the first quarter of 2014. At that time, she will also step down from her positions as executive director of the BAE Systems plc Board and as a member of the company’s Executive Committee. She will remain on the BAE Systems Inc. Board as an outside director through April 2015.

The board of BAE Systems said it will conduct a search for Hudson’s successor.

“Linda has transformed BAE Systems, Inc. by guiding it through periods of significant wartime growth, preparing it for defense budget reductions and clearly establishing it as a major and leading defense company in the United States,” Michael Chertoff, chairman of the Board for BAE Systems Inc., said in a statement.  “Linda has left her mark on the company, its workforce and the entire industry, and I’m pleased she will continue to contribute to the success of the company through her extended service on the BAE Systems, Inc. board.”

Hudson, 62, joined BAE Systems Inc. in 2007 as president of its Land & Armaments operating group. Prior to joining BAE Systems, she was an officer and vice president of the General Dynamics Corp. and was president of General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products. Earlier, she held a variety of senior management positions in engineering, production operations, program management and business development during a period of significant consolidation in the defense industry.