Lockheed Martin CFO abruptly departs; treasurer steps in

Dive Brief:

Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest defense contractor, on Tuesday announced the immediate retirement of its current CFO and 34-year company veteran Ken Possenriede.
Possenriede, who Lockheed said is departing for personal reasons, will be replaced on an interim basis by John Mollard, vice president and treasurer.
The move comes a week after Lockheed reported it had fallen short of analysts’ estimates in the second quarter, and two days before Lockheed’s investor day, set for Thursday.

Dive Insight:

“Performance issues” within the aeronautics division caused the company to miss analysts’ profit estimates in the second quarter, alongside a $225 million loss on "a highly classified program that Lockheed Martin has been working on for a couple of years,” Possenriede told Reuters last week.

Despite its loss, the company nonetheless raised its outlook for the remainder of the year, and reported $1.8 billion net earnings, compared to $1.6 billion during the same period last year.

Possenriede has been with Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed for 34 years, serving in a variety of finance leadership roles, including treasurer and vice president of finance and business operations for the company’s aeronautics division. He became CFO in February 2019.

Possenriede’s departure is unrelated to any “financial or accounting issue or any disagreement with the company or any matter relating to the company’s operations, policies or practices,” Lockheed said in an 8-K filing Tuesday.

Possenriede announced his retirement in an August 3 letter to CEO James Taiclet, which said, in full, “I have decided to retire from the Company. Effective today, I am resigning my position as Chief Financial Officer of Lockheed Martin Corporation and as a director of any subsidiaries.”

Mollard has held several positions of increasing responsibility within the finance and business operations team, including corporate treasurer for the past five years, Lockheed said. He has been with the company for 35 years.

“Given his nearly four decades with Lockheed Martin and familiarity with the company’s businesses, stakeholders and capital structure, John is uniquely suited to lead our finance organization while our search process is underway,” Taiclet said.