Government Contractors | Technology | Aerospace 2025: CHRISTOPHER D. KASTNER

Kastner was tapped in 2022 as CEO of Huntington Ingalls Industries, the nation’s largest military shipbuilder and a Fortune 500 company that owns Newport News Shipbuilding, Virginia’s biggest industrial employer. Prior to that, he served as chief operating officer and chief financial officer for HII, which has 44,000 employees and reported $11.5 billion in fiscal 2024 revenue.

In June, HII furloughed 471 shipbuilders for up to five months “to increase accountability and efficiency, and to improve overall performance.” Nevertheless, Kastner has said HII, which is building two Ford-class aircraft carriers in drydock simultaneously, plans to add 3,000 new workers in the next year, but has shifted its focus from entry-level to career-minded workers with more experience.

In January, HII closed its purchase of a manufacturing facility in South Carolina. And in April, the Department of Defense awarded HII a $1.2 billion contract modification for work on two Virginia-class submarines. Late last year, HII’s McLean-based Mission Technologies division received a $6.7 billion Air Force contract.

A graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Pepperdine University, Kastner was named to New York Life’s board in April. Kastner sits on the powerful board of the Business Roundtable, the association for the nation’s leading CEOs, alongside fellow Virginians Brendan Bechtel of Bechtel Corp. and Hilton Worldwide Holdings CEO Christopher J. Nassetta, as well as heavy hitters such as Apple CEO Tim Cook and JPMorganChase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon.