After serving for nearly two months as the interim chief of Mercury Systems [MRCY], the board of the defense electronics company on Tuesday named Bill Ballhaus as president and CEO, with the charge to execute on the company’s strategic plan.
Ballhaus, who has served on Mercury’s board for more than a year, was named to the interim leadership roles on June 24 following the resignation of Mark Aslett. Aslett’s resignation followed a strategic review of alternatives that failed to find a buyer for the company.
“Bill took on the role of Mercury’s interim president and CEO with a mandate from the board to take immediate action to address the company’s operational and financial challenges and help drive enhanced shareholder value,” Mercury’s Chairman William O’Brien said in a statement. “During the past 45 days, under Bill’s leadership, the management team has performed a deep dive of the Mercury business and charted a clear and compelling path forward.”
O’Brien said the board reviewed other candidates but “given Bill’s previous successes in leading operational transformations and achieving strong results, the board is confident that he has the right skills and experience to accelerate the execution of Mercury’s strategic plan and solidify the company’s position in the rapidly modernizing aerospace and defense industry.”
Ballhaus said his management team is focused on “predictability of performance,” improving profitability, boosting cash generation, and positioning for organic growth.
In a separate statement accompanying Mercury’s fourth quarter earnings release, Ballhaus said that the company’s “core business is performing well and predictably with solid margins,” and that “a small number of our programs are facing short-term execution challenges, which have obscured the underlying strength of our core business.” He added that Mercury is already fixing these issues and that “the profitability of the core business will begin to emerge in fiscal 2024.”
Ballhaus later this year will also become chairman of the company when O’Brien retires.
Ballhaus previously led SRA International until it was acquired by CSC, and also led DynCorp International. From 2016 until 2021, he led Blackboard, Inc., an educational technology company.