FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 16, 2007
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Robert B. Coutts was elected chairman of Sandia National Laboratories’ Board of Directors April 1, 2007. The role of the board is to oversee the management of Sandia Corporation, which has as its sole purpose the management and operation of Sandia National Laboratories.
Coutts is executive vice president of the Lockheed Martin Electronic Systems business area, with 2006 sales of $11.3 billion. He has led the business area since September 1998.
Prior to these assignments, Coutts was president of Lockheed Martin Government Electronic Systems in Moorestown, N.J. He was elected an officer of the Sandia Corporation by the Lockheed Martin Board of Directors in December 1996. Coutts also is a member of the boards of directors of Lockheed Martin Integrated Systems, Inc., Lockheed Martin United Kingdom, Lockheed Martin España, Lockheed Martin Sippican Holdings, Inc., and Lockheed Martin Sippican Inc.
Coutts joined Aero & Naval Systems as president in August 1994. Previously, he served as vice president of material acquisition and subcontract management for Martin Marietta, where he supported 15 locations across the major aerospace groups of the Corporation.
Prior to joining Martin Marietta during the GE Aerospace merger in 1993, Coutts served as general manager of the GE Aerospace Operations Division in Syracuse-Utica, N.Y., where he was responsible for the production of radar and sonar systems valued at $500 million in annual sales.
Coutts began his career at the General Electric Corporation in 1972. After graduating from the GE Manufacturing Management Program (MMP), he held two positions in Lynn, Mass., before moving to the Carboloy Division of General Electric, first in Michigan and then in Knoxville, Tenn., where he served as plant manager. Coutts returned to the Aircraft Engine Group in 1983 and held managerial positions in Albuquerque before becoming the plant manager at the Aircraft Engine Group's turbine component facility in Madisonville, Ky.
In 1989, he joined the Aircraft Engine Production Division Staff in Evendale, Ohio, as manager of inventory and asset management, where he remained until becoming general manager at the Syracuse-Utica Operations Department.
A native of Westbury, N.Y., Coutts holds a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from Tufts University. He has completed various advanced management courses at General Electric’s Crotonville campus and has attended advanced management courses at both Northeastern University and Harvard University. Coutts is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and of Tau Beta Pi engineering honor society.
Coutts has maintained a strong personal commitment to the community and civic organizations in the areas where he has lived and worked. He is currently Chief Executive Officer and Deputy Chairman of the Association of the U.S. Army (AUSA) Council of Trustees, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; the Board of Governors of Wesley Theological Seminary; and the Board of Overseers, College of Engineering, Tufts University. Coutts also is an elected member of the Board of Directors of Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc.
Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin company, for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration. Sandia has major R&D responsibilities in national security, energy and environmental technologies, and economic competitiveness.
Sandia news media contact: Michael Padilla, mjpadil@sandia.gov, (505) 284-5325