Cobham CEO to step down, to be replaced by Laird boss

Aerospace and defence group Cobham said chief executive officer Bob Murphy will step down from his role by the end of 2016 to pursue other opportunities and will be succeeded by David Lockwood no later than 1 January 2017.

Lockwood is currently CEO of FTSE 250 technology company Laird, where he has been in the role for four years. Prior to that, he was vice president of global defence & security at BT Global Services.

He has experience of international defence operations, gained from his roles at GPT (Marconi), BAE Systems and Thales Corporation. In addition, Lockwood chaired the Scottish Government's Technology Advisory Group and, in 2005, was the recipient of the Scottish Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Technology.

Cobham chairman John Devaney said: “David has a background in defence and communications technology which are at the heart of Cobham. We look forward to him joining the company and thank Bob for his contribution."

Laird said on Wednesday that Tony Quinlan, its current chief financial officer, has been appointed to take over from Lockwood on 5 September.