Overview
Ron Sugar is an accomplished CEO, chairman, board member, and advisor. He served as Chairman and CEO of Northrop Grumman from 2003 until his retirement in 2010. He has been successfully coaching a select number of CEOs since 2014. An engineer’s CEO coach, he excels at navigating complicated succession scenarios, and his experience includes 11 CEO succession transitions. Sugar understands the challenge of preparing C-suite executives to follow an iconic leader in an iconic brand.
Career History
He is currently Chairman of Uber Technologies, a director of Apple, Inc., a director of Amgen, Inc., and the former lead director of Chevron Corporation. He also serves as senior advisor to the private investment firm Ares Management LLC, Bain & Co., and Singapore’s Temasek Investment Company.
During his tenure at Northrop Grumman, he helped grow the organization into one of the world’s largest aerospace and defense companies, with 120,000 employees and $35B annual revenue. Before being Chairman and CEO, Sugar was the President and Chief Operating Officer.
Prior to joining Northrop Grumman in 2001, Sugar held senior operating, technical, and financial positions, including CFO of TRW, Inc., President and COO of TRW Aerospace, and President and COO of Litton Industries. He is a trustee of the University of Southern California, where he also holds the Judge Widney Chair as Professor of Management and Technology, a member of the UCLA Anderson School of Management board of advisors, and a director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association.
He is a past chairman of the Aerospace Industries Association, a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Royal Aeronautical Society. The President of the United States earlier appointed him to the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee.
Personal
Sugar received BS (summa cum laude), MS, and Ph.D. degrees in engineering from UCLA and was subsequently honored as UCLA Alumnus of the Year. He lives with his wife in California. They have two grown children.