Apple names former Northrop CEO Ron Sugar to board

Apple Inc. said on Wednesday that former Northrop Grumman Corp. Chief Executive Officer Ronald D. Sugar was named to its board of directors.

Sugar, 62, who headed the Century City-based aerospace giant from 2003 until his retirement this year, will serve as chairman of Apple's audit and finance committee. Before taking over at Northrop, he was an executive with Southland defense contractors TRW Inc. and Litton Industries.

In his tenure as Northrop’s chief executive, Sugar helped acquire nearly two dozen companies with interests in virtually every aspect of the U.S. military, including building spy satellites and nuclear submarines, managing websites and protecting computer systems against hackers.

Sugar grew up in South Los Angeles and graduated with a doctorate in engineering from UCLA.

"Ron is an engineer at heart, who then became a very successful business leader," Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said in a statement. “In addition to having been the CEO of a high-tech Fortune 100 company, Ron has a PhD in engineering and has been involved in the development of some very sophisticated technology.”

Sugar is the latest high-profile leader to join Cupertino-based Apple’s seven-member board, which includes former Vice President Al Gore and Intuit Inc.’s former Chief Executive William V. Campbell.

RELATED:

Northrop Grumman's Ronald Sugar: Quietly in command

Northrop chief Ronald Sugar to step down

-- W.J. Hennigan

Photo: Ronald Sugar, former chairman and chief executive of Northrop Grumman, is photographed at the company's Redondo Beach facility with a model of the James Web Space Telescope on March 2, 2009. Credit: Robert Lachman / Los Angeles Times