Newport News Promotes Two
Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) announced two promotions to the company’s leadership team at its Newport News Shipbuilding division: Dave Bolcar has been promoted to vice president of submarine construction, and Bill Smith has been promoted to vice president, fleet support programs.
Having most recently served as director of the Columbia-class program, Bolcar is now vice president of submarine construction, which currently encompasses both the Virginia- and Columbia-class submarine programs. He joined the shipyard in 1988 as an engineer in the Los Angeles-class submarine engineering division. Since then, he has held several positions of increasing responsibility, including manager in Ford-class component engineering and Columbia-class propulsion engineering, and director of submarine engineering. Bolcar earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Pennsylvania State University. He will continue to report to Ken Mahler, Newport News’ vice president of Navy programs.
Effective immediately, Smith is vice president of fleet support programs, with responsibility for both submarine and aircraft carrier fleet support, including Gerald R. Ford-class fleet support work. Smith most recently served as program director for aircraft carrier fleet support. He began his shipbuilding career in 1984 as a sheet metal apprentice. Since then, he has held a number of positions with increasing responsibility, including piping supervisor for Nimitz-class aircraft carriers and engineering manager for Ford-class aircraft carriers. He also served as director of aircraft carrier engineering and director of the reactor plant planning yard, propulsion plant engineering activity and standard Navy valve yard. Smith graduated from The Apprentice School in 1988 and earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Old Dominion University. He will report to Mahler.
In addition, Matt Needy, who most recently served as vice president of the Virginia-class submarine program and fleet services, is transferring to vice president of operations, effective immediately. Needy will be responsible for all trade, manufacturing, material logistics and facilities operations. He will report to Newport News Shipbuilding President Jennifer Boykin.