Northrop CEO May Remain as Chairman

Northrop Grumman Corp. Chief Executive Kent Kresa may stay with the Century City-based defense contractor as a non-executive chairman to help with the integration of TRW Inc. after retiring this spring, a company source said.

Kresa will reach Northrop’s mandatory retirement age of 65 for executive officers in March and is expected to hand over the reins to Ronald Sugar at that time.

But considering the complexity of the just-completed $6.6-billion TRW acquisition, some Northrop directors are hoping to persuade Kresa to remain on the board to help his successor, the source said.

-- Peter Pae