Wesley Bush Looks To The Future

A lot of company’s take pride in tradition. There are leaders who see that something needs to be done to improve the company’s future and they are willing to make the necessary changes so that it can be done. These are the kinds of business executive who take the risk to make bold changes.

This is the case with Wesley Bush. After being appointed CEO of Northrop Grumman in 2010 the first major change he announced was the moving of the company’s headquarters. The company is a product of the merger between Northrop Aircraft and Grumman Aerospace.

Northrop was founded and has been based in California since 1939. So 70 years later the newly installed CEO wanted the headquarters moved to the Washington D.C. area. Previous CEOs did not want to do so.

The move was intended to bring the company closer to its major customer the U.S government. Northrop Grumman is not an ordinary company. It is the second largest defense contractor in the U.S. It makes nuclear powered aircraft carriers, nuclear powered submarines, and stealth bombers to name few of its products. There are many national security secrets kept by this company due to the nature of the business it is in. 

To be elected to head this kind of a company takes exceptional intelligence and talent. He is a corporate executive who rose through the ranks.  Bush obtained a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He earned a master’s degree in the same prestigious institution as well.

Bush worked for two other technology related companies as an engineer before joining TRW in 1987.  He was employed as a systems engineer in TRW’s space technologies operations. In 1999 when he was still 35 years of age he was already leading the company’s multi-billion dollar military space program.

Bush has been described as having an analytical mind while possessing the ability to think broadly about business. TRW was bought by Northrop in 2002. This development did not stop Bush’s rapid rise. He became the youngest senior executive at Northrop. In 2006 Bush was appointed president and in 2007 he became the chief operations officer.

Bush became president and CEO in 2010 and chairman in 2011; a top notch executive in a demanding industry.