Ian Graham King (born 24 April 1956) is a British businessman who was the CEO of

BAE Systems BAE Systems plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Aerospace industry, aerospace, military technology, military and information security company, based in London. It is the largest manufacturer in Britain as of 2017. It is ...

from 2008 to 2017. Until 20 June 2014 he was a non-executive director of Rotork plc. He is currently Chairman of Senior plc.

Career

BAE Systems was created by a merger of

Marconi Electronic Systems Marconi Electronic Systems Limited (MES), or GEC-Marconi as it was until 1998, was the defence arm of General Electric Company (GEC). It was split off from GEC and bought by British Aerospace (BAe) on 30 November 1999 to form BAE Systems. GEC ...

and

British Aerospace British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft manufacturer, aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer that was formed in 1977. Its head office was at Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. ...

. King joined BAE from Marconi. Previous roles include Chief executive officer (CEO) of

Alenia Marconi Systems Alenia Marconi Systems (AMS) was a major European integrated defence electronics company and an equal shares joint venture between BAE Systems and Finmeccanica (now Leonardo S.p.A.) until its dissolution on 3 May 2005. AMS was formed in 1998 by ...

, a partnership between Marconi and

Finmeccanica Leonardo S.p.A., formerly Leonardo-Finmeccanica and originally Finmeccanica, is an Italian multinational company specialising in aerospace, defence and security. Headquartered in Rome, the company has 180 sites worldwide. It is the 12th largest ...

, Finance Director and Deputy managing director of Marconi Electronic Systems and non-Executive Director of the

Canadian Marconi Company CMC Electronics Inc. () is a Canadian avionics manufacturer. The company's main manufacturing facility is located in Montreal, Quebec with additional facilities located in Ottawa, Ontario and Sugar Grove, Illinois. History The company was f ...

. When BAE Systems was created in November 1999, King was named Group Strategy & Planning Director. In December 2000 King was appointed group managing director of BAE Systems Customer Solutions and Support. In November 2006, BAE Systems appointed King chief operating officer from 1 January 2007. He was promoted in what The ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'' described as "in part... to improve relations with the MoD further". This followed a general improvement in relations since acrimony in 2003. The previous co-COOs were

Chris Geoghegan Christopher Vincent Geoghegan (born 13 June 1954) is a former board member of BAE Systems (2002–07) and president of the Society of British Aircraft Constructors. He was educated at Bishop Henshaw Senior High School in Rochdale, Lancashire an ...

and

Steve Mogford Steven Lewis Mogford (born 27 June 1956) is a British businessman. From 2011 to 2023, he was the chief executive (CEO) of United Utilities, the UK's largest listed water company. Early life Mogford was educated at Barking Abbey Grammar School, ...

. The Independent described King's appointment as COO as part of the "succession battle" to succeed BAE CEO Michael Turner.

CEO

In October 2007, BAE Systems announced that its CEO Mike Turner would step down from his role in 2008. While King was always named as a candidate to replace him as CEO, press reports suggested BAE would prefer an American CEO due to the increasing importance of the United States defence market to the company and the opportunity to make a clean break from corruption allegations and investigations related to the

Al Yamamah Al-Yamama () is a historical region in south-eastern Najd in modern-day Saudi Arabia. Only a handful of centralized states ever arose in the Yamama, but it figured prominently in early Islamic history, becoming a central theater in the Ridd ...

contracts. However, on 27 June 2008, BAE announced that it had selected King to succeed Turner with effect from 1 September 2008; ''The Financial Times'' noted that King's career at Marconi distances him from the British Aerospace-led Al Yamamah project. For this role he was paid an annual base salary of £982,300. King announced his intended retirement, on 30 June 2017, to the board on 22 February. It was confirmed that Charles Woodburn, the Chief Operating Officer, would be appointed in his place.

Personal life

He is married with one son, and lives in Portsmouth.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:King, Ian 1956 births Living people BAE Systems people British corporate directors British manufacturing chief executives