Hubbry Logo
Phebe NovakovicPhebe NovakovicMain
Open search
Phebe Novakovic
Community hub
Phebe Novakovic
logo
7 pages, 0 posts
0 subscribers
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Phebe Novakovic
Phebe Novakovic
from Wikipedia

Phebe Novakovic is an American businesswoman and former intelligence officer. She serves as the chairwoman and chief executive officer of General Dynamics.

Key Information

She was ranked 21st on Fortune's list of Most Powerful Women in 2023.[3] She was also listed as the world's 29th most powerful woman by Forbes.[4]

Early life and education

[edit]

Novakovic is of Serbian descent.[5] Phebe Novakovic graduated from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts in 1979 and received a M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in 1988.[6][7][8] She was previously married to Michael G. Vickers, former Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security, Special Forces soldier, and CIA paramilitary officer.[2][9] She has three daughters.[2]

Career

[edit]

She worked for the Central Intelligence Agency.[6] From 1997 to 2001, she worked for the United States Department of Defense.[6][7]

She joined General Dynamics in 2001.[7] She became president and Chief Operation Officer in 2012.[7] She has served as the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of General Dynamics since January 2013.[6][7][10][11]

She has sat on the Board of Directors of Abbott Laboratories since 2010.[10] As of 2018, she is listed as the 25th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes,[12] rising from 56th in 2015 and 65th in 2014. In 2020 she was appointed a director of J. P. Morgan Chase.[1]

References

[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia
from Grokipedia
Phebe N. Novakovic (born November 1957) is an American business executive of Serbian descent who has served as chairman and of Corporation, a leading and defense contractor, since January 1, 2013. She previously held the roles of president and from 2012 and executive vice president from 2008, after joining the company in 2001 as vice president for strategy and . Novakovic graduated from with a in 1979 and earned an MBA from the of the in 1988. Her early career included service as an analyst in the starting in 1983, followed by positions in the White House Office of Management and Budget and the U.S. Department of Defense. Under her leadership at , the firm executed key acquisitions such as the $9.8 billion purchase of IT services provider CSRA in 2018 and achieved year-over-year revenue growth, including 13.9 percent to $12.2 billion in the first quarter of 2025, driven by demand for military platforms and systems. She also serves on the board of directors of . Novakovic has received recognition including multiple Wash100 awards for advancing ' operational performance and national security contributions. As a defense industry leader, she has advocated for the sector's role in supporting U.S. military readiness and expressed concerns over technology firms' reluctance to engage with , emphasizing a to bolster democratic allies. Her tenure has drawn criticism from anti-war activists, who have confronted her at shareholder meetings over the company's involvement in arms sales and military engagements.

Early life and education

Family background and upbringing

Phebe Novakovic was born in 1957 to a Serbian immigrant father who arrived in the United States at age 17 following and later served as a in with the U.S. Air Force. Her father, who had emigrated from , exemplified self-reliance by overcoming initial language barriers and cultural adjustments to build a career in American military service, instilling in his family a deep appreciation for opportunity and national gratitude. Her mother, whom her father met while both attended , provided a grounding in American upbringing, contributing to a household that blended immigrant resilience with domestic stability. Novakovic's early years were marked by frequent relocations typical of a military family, with much of her childhood spent on U.S. bases in and briefly in during the height of the . These overseas postings exposed her to frontline tensions of the era, fostering an acute awareness of geopolitical threats and the strategic imperatives of national defense from a young age. The military environment shaped core of , service, and commitment to , reinforced by her father's role and the constant demands of postings that required adaptability and to institutional missions. This upbringing emphasized practical self-sufficiency and a realist perspective on global affairs, distinct from sedentary civilian norms, while highlighting the sacrifices inherent in defending democratic freedoms against adversarial ideologies.

Academic background

Novakovic earned a degree from in , in 1979, majoring in government and German. This liberal arts curriculum emphasized and interdisciplinary analysis, fostering foundational skills in evaluating complex geopolitical and policy issues. She later pursued graduate studies, obtaining a from the of the in 1988. The MBA program honed her quantitative and strategic acumen, bridging analytical rigor with practical business frameworks. Novakovic holds no advanced degrees in intelligence, defense, , or specialized technical disciplines, indicating that her expertise in these domains developed through rather than formal academic specialization.

Government service

Intelligence community roles

Phebe Novakovic joined the in 1983 as an operations officer, serving until 1986 during the final years of the . In this capacity, she conducted overseas assignments under official government cover, focusing on the collection of regarding foreign capabilities. This role involved direct fieldwork to support assessments, distinct from domestic analytical positions in Washington, D.C. Her operations officer duties emphasized empirical data gathering on potential geopolitical adversaries, contributing to evaluations of military threats amid tensions such as the Soviet invasion of . Novakovic's background, shaped by her family's postings in during the era, informed her approach to intelligence work, prioritizing firsthand threat identification over abstract policy frameworks. Through these efforts, she developed expertise in operational intelligence collection, honing skills in evaluating adversary strengths and risks based on verifiable field-derived evidence rather than institutional assumptions. This three-year tenure provided foundational experience in countering strategic uncertainties, aligning with the CIA's mandate for rigorous, ground-level threat analysis during a period of heightened global rivalry.

Executive branch positions

Novakovic joined the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in 1992, advancing to Deputy Associate Director for National Security Programs by 1997. In this role, she oversaw the preparation and submission of the President's annual budget for the Department of Defense (DoD) and U.S. intelligence agencies, managing defense appropriations processes amid post-Cold War reductions in military spending that contracted the defense industrial base. Her work focused on resource allocation efficiency, evaluating fiscal decisions' direct effects on national security capabilities during a period when empirical assessments of emerging threats competed with demands for budgetary restraint. From 1997 to 2001, Novakovic served as Special Assistant to Secretary of Defense and Deputy Secretaries and Rudy de Leon at . She managed operational processes for all major DoD budget and policy determinations, including coordination on high-level decisions such as 2001 defense talks in Bosnia. This position involved scrutinizing the interplay between funding levels and operational readiness, fostering expertise in government contracting mechanisms and the downstream consequences of policy choices on procurement and sustainment. These executive branch roles marked Novakovic's progression from to high-level execution, where she applied data-driven evaluations to balance fiscal oversight with imperatives for maintaining defense posture against validated risks.

Career at

Entry into the

Phebe Novakovic joined in 2001 as vice president for , marking her entry into corporate within the defense industry. Her recruitment capitalized on extensive experience in defense and operations, enabling contributions to strategies attuned to federal procurement processes. This period coincided with the immediate aftermath of the , 2001, attacks, which prompted a rapid expansion in U.S. defense budgets from $305 billion in 2001 to $437 billion by 2003, heightening demands for integrated defense technologies and systems. In her initial role, Novakovic focused on aligning corporate planning with evolving priorities, particularly in bridging operational gaps between government requirements and private-sector capabilities in areas such as and communications. By October 2002, she advanced to oversee broader strategic initiatives, including planning for IT and communications sectors amid post-9/11 adaptations. Novakovic's early efforts emphasized data-driven assessments of market opportunities, leveraging analytical approaches from her to enhance ' responsiveness to heightened security imperatives, such as improved command-and-control systems and concepts emerging in the early 2000s. These contributions laid groundwork for the company's positioning in federal contracts, without delving into subsequent executive advancements.

Rise through executive ranks

Novakovic advanced to senior for and development in 2005, where she contributed to corporate strategy amid post-9/11 defense spending increases that drove ' revenue from approximately $20.3 billion in 2005 to $31.98 billion by 2009. In May , she was promoted to executive overseeing the Marine Systems group, which encompassed , production, and combat vehicles, sectors central to U.S. contracts and representing a significant portion of the company's portfolio during a period of industry pressures from drawdowns in and operations. Under her leadership in this role, Marine Systems maintained operational stability as overall company grew modestly to $32.68 billion in 2011, reflecting effective management of backlog execution despite emerging budget constraints. On May 2, , Novakovic assumed the positions of president and , reporting to then-CEO and directing the company's four primary business groups—Aerospace, Systems, Marine Systems, and Systems and —while managing headquarters functions to enhance efficiency and diversification efforts in a consolidating defense sector facing sequestration risks. In this capacity, she prioritized operational streamlining and cross-group synergies, contributing to sustained contract wins in core defense areas even as the Systems and segment experienced a $1.2 billion sales decline in due to federal IT spending cuts, demonstrating merit-driven progression over narratives of undue government influence given the empirical alignment of her advancements with the firm's financial trajectory.

CEO and Chairman leadership

Phebe Novakovic was appointed of effective January 1, 2013, succeeding Nicholas D. Chabraja, and was simultaneously elected chairman of the board, consolidating the top leadership roles. This transition occurred amid acute fiscal pressures, including the sequestration of defense budgets enacted under the following the 2012 fiscal cliff negotiations, which imposed automatic spending cuts threatening contractor stability. Novakovic's governance has prioritized the long-term resilience of the , viewing it as foundational to U.S. warfighting capacity and national deterrence. She has critiqued structural vulnerabilities, such as dependencies, while advocating for policies that sustain and ecosystems essential for rapid . Her approach emphasizes proactive investment in core competencies over short-term efficiencies, ensuring the base can withstand geopolitical shocks without reliance on ad hoc foreign sourcing. In public statements, Novakovic has urged broader sectoral involvement to bolster this resilience, notably expressing alarm in June 2019 at firms' refusal to engage with , asserting that "security and stability of this nation" underpins their operational freedom and that such reluctance undermines collective defense capabilities. She frames spending and investment decisions through the lens of tangible global threats—such as adversarial advances in peer competition—rather than domestic political cycles, predicting sustained budgetary growth driven by these realities irrespective of administration, as articulated in 2021. This causal orientation informs her vision for a self-reliant industrial posture capable of scaling production in response to aggression, prioritizing empirical threat assessments over ideological constraints.

Key achievements and strategic decisions

Major acquisitions and business expansions

Under Phebe Novakovic's leadership as CEO since 2013, General Dynamics executed targeted acquisitions to integrate advanced technologies and expand operational footprints, aligning with demands for enhanced interoperability in defense systems. The cornerstone was the April 2018 acquisition of CSRA Inc. for approximately $9.7 billion, the largest in the company's history, which merged CSRA's government IT expertise with General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) to fortify cybersecurity, cloud computing, and mission-critical data services for U.S. federal clients. This move addressed vulnerabilities in secure information handling amid rising cyber threats and the need for unified IT architectures supporting joint military operations. Earlier, in 2016, acquired Bluefin Robotics, a developer of autonomous underwater vehicles, to augment undersea and mine countermeasures capabilities, enabling more robust integration of unmanned systems into naval defense strategies. This acquisition responded to empirical requirements for persistent domain in contested maritime environments, where traditional manned platforms face limitations in and risk exposure. In the same year, investments in advanced processes, including additive techniques for precision components, expanded production efficiencies across land and sea systems divisions, mitigating risks through domestic scaling. Further expansions in 2018 included the purchase of Hawker Pacific, adding 19 sales and service locations across the and regions to the segment, thereby extending Gulfstream and support networks for global operations tied to defense . Concurrently, the acquisition of FWW Fahrzeugwerk established a European land systems , incorporating specialized to support NATO-aligned production and enhance cross-domain mobility for U.S.-led coalitions. These deals collectively prioritized synergies in hardware-software fusion, such as embedding cybersecurity into and undersea platforms, to meet verifiable U.S. imperatives for resilient, networked forces without overextending into unrelated commercial ventures.

Impact on company performance and national security

Under Novakovic's leadership as CEO since January 2013, achieved sustained revenue expansion, with trailing twelve-month revenue reaching $51.51 billion by late , reflecting an 11.86% year-over-year growth rate driven by demand in marine systems and segments. Quarterly results in 2025 further demonstrated resilience, including a 13.9% year-over-year increase to $12.2 billion in the first quarter and 10.6% growth to $12.91 billion in the third quarter, exceeding analyst expectations amid elevated defense budgets. The company's stood at 17.78%, underscoring efficient capital allocation, including $3 billion returned to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases in , which Novakovic described as prudent amid strong cash flows ending the year at $1.7 billion. These repurchases, totaling significant buybacks like 1.8 million shares year-to-date in mid-2023 scaled up in subsequent periods, bolstered despite criticisms from segments prioritizing reinvestment over shareholder returns. Novakovic's strategic emphasis on core defense platforms has directly enhanced U.S. through production of Virginia-class and Columbia-class , which she has identified as indispensable for maintaining underwater supremacy and deterring adversaries by ensuring undetected border security and . In 2021, she articulated that escalating global tensions, including a "declining state of humankind," necessitate unavoidable investments in such capabilities to avert conflicts, positioning as a "" for alliance support and homeland defense rather than mere profit drivers. This focus has sustained a record backlog, enabling hundreds of millions in annual revenue growth from programs while contributing to deterrence via platforms that prevent aggression through credible threat of retaliation, as evidenced by ongoing contracts despite procurement adjustments like the single Virginia-class buy in fiscal 2025. Beyond direct military utility, ' operations under Novakovic have generated economic multipliers, employing tens of thousands and fostering innovation that spills over into civilian technologies, countering narratives that defense spending yields negligible broader benefits by demonstrating causal links to job creation in high-skill and R&D advancements in materials and systems integration. These outcomes prioritize strategic readiness over short-term fiscal critiques, with and production—such as Abrams tanks—ensuring operational superiority that empirically reduces conflict risks through superior force posture.

Controversies and criticisms

Shareholder activism and protests

During General Dynamics' annual shareholder meeting on May 5, 2021, in , CodePink co-founder disrupted proceedings to directly challenge CEO Phebe Novakovic on the company's arms sales. Benjamin accused of enabling war crimes by supplying munitions to and other Gulf states, specifically referencing a March 25, 2016, Saudi-led airstrike on Yemen's Mastaba marketplace that killed 97 civilians, including 25 children, using an MK-84 bomb manufactured by the company. She further criticized the firm's as inherently dependent on conflict for revenue, noting Novakovic's annual compensation exceeding $21 million since 2014 and questioning the ethics of arming regimes involved in repressive actions or civilian casualties. Novakovic rebutted Benjamin's claims as containing "potentially libelous and incorrect information" attributable to insufficient factual knowledge, while offering to furnish accurate details on the company's operations. She maintained that adheres to U.S. government contracts and policies, which she characterized as "just and fair" in pursuit of , , and national security, explicitly denying direct involvement in the cited Yemen incident or unrelated matters like U.S. . In subsequent commentary, Novakovic underscored the defensive purpose of products such as armored vehicles and submarines, framing support for U.S. allies as fulfilling a for readiness amid global threats. Anti-war advocates, including Benjamin, portrayed such confrontations as exposing within the military-industrial complex, where returns allegedly prioritize escalation over de-escalation, potentially incentivizing instability to sustain demand for weaponry. , however, has consistently positioned its activities as compliant with legal standards and essential for deterrence, with empirical evidence of adherence to export regulations and contract specifications countering broader indictments of ethical lapses. No formal resolutions stemming from these protests have succeeded in altering company policy.

Debates over defense industry practices

Critics of defense industry practices under Phebe Novakovic's leadership at have highlighted share repurchases as evidence of prioritizing over long-term industrial capacity, particularly amid U.S. concerns about production shortfalls. In 2023, repurchased $434 million in shares, a move cited in February 2024 as emblematic of contractors "goosing" stock prices rather than investing in workforce and infrastructure to meet needs, such as accelerating submarine deliveries. Del Toro specifically noted division's output of 1.3 Virginia-class submarines per year, falling short of the 2.33 required for commitments like , arguing that such financial practices exacerbate and delivery delays despite taxpayer-funded demands for greater output. Novakovic has countered that robust cash flows justify repurchases, signaling confidence in future performance, and in a May 2024 earnings call indicated potential for increased buybacks as the year progressed, aligning with industry trends where five major primes repurchased $2.6 billion in the first quarter alone. Broader critiques extend to and the , with disclosing expenditures such as $37,500 in mid-2025, amid industry-wide concerns that former officials transitioning to contractor roles—hundreds documented in a 2023 Senate report—influence policy toward sustained or expanded budgets, potentially incentivizing prolonged engagements over . Novakovic has consistently framed defense spending as a direct response to objective s rather than fiscal maneuvering, stating in that U.S. budgets are "driven by either the or the perception of ," predicting an uptick amid global instability that subsequently occurred, with outlays rising from $596 billion in fiscal to $842 billion in 2024. She reiterated in 2021 that funding trajectories follow threat assessments irrespective of partisan control, emphasizing causal links to adversaries' capabilities, such as China's naval expansion, which has necessitated investments in platforms like ' submarine programs to maintain undersea deterrence. Proponents of these practices argue they sustain a industrial base enabling verifiable deterrence outcomes, including ' contributions to the via ground-based strategic deterrents and Virginia-class submarines that underpin Pacific superiority against peer competitors, while supporting approximately 117,000 U.S. jobs as of 2023 and driving revenue growth to $11.7 billion in Q3 2024 alone. Detractors counter that profit-oriented models, including buybacks totaling billions across primes, create misaligned incentives fostering dependency on conflict cycles, yet empirical trends—such as record backlogs exceeding $90 billion and no successful peer territorial advances against U.S.-backed forces—suggest strengthened capabilities have empirically mitigated escalation risks from actors like and , outweighing unproven claims of manufactured .

Personal life and affiliations

Family and personal details

Novakovic is married and has three children.<grok:render type="render_inline_citation"> 1 </grok:render> She resides in .<grok:render type="render_inline_citation"> 1 </grok:render> Public information on her family life remains limited, consistent with her low-profile approach to personal matters and absence of notable family-linked public activities such as philanthropy.<grok:render type="render_inline_citation"> 3 </grok:render> Her father, a Serbian immigrant, served as a in U.S. .<grok:render type="render_inline_citation"> 10 </grok:render> The family spent much of her childhood on American air bases in amid the , an environment that underscored themes of duty and resilience without direct professional extension into her later path.<grok:render type="render_inline_citation"> 11 </grok:render><grok:render type="render_inline_citation"> 12 </grok:render>

Board roles and external engagements

Novakovic was elected to the of & Co. on October 28, 2020, effective December 7, 2020, providing strategic overlap between defense contracting and global finance amid increasing intersections in sectors like cybersecurity and international transactions. She has served on the of since 2010, contributing governance expertise in healthcare and medical technology, areas adjacent to and . In policy circles, Novakovic joined the Board of Trustees of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) prior to 2020, engaging in forums on defense strategy and global security challenges, where discussions prioritize empirical assessments of threats like great-power competition over ideological narratives. She also serves on the board of trustees of , influencing academic programs in engineering and policy that intersect with research, and on the board of the Congressional Foundation, supporting veteran recognition tied to military valor. These affiliations expand her network across think tanks, academia, and , facilitating data-driven exchanges on defense priorities. Novakovic has participated in public dialogues on , including a underscoring the defense sector's empirical role in enabling U.S. capabilities essential for deterrence and support, without reliance on unsubstantiated ethical qualms from non-expert critics. Her external profile is reflected in recognitions such as ' 2024 Power Women ranking at #24, attributed to measurable outcomes like sustained revenue growth at under her leadership, rather than subjective metrics.

References

Add your contribution
Related Hubs
User Avatar
No comments yet.