Monday, May 2, 2005

Lockheed Martin's board has shed some veteran players. Norman R. Augustine and Vance D. Coffman, both former chief executives of the company, stepped down as directors last week as the current chief executive, Robert J. Stevens, was named chairman.

Augustine is severing his relationship with the company he helped turn into the largest defense contractor in the world through the 1995 merger of Martin Marietta and Lockheed. The industry legend and Washington powerbroker stepped down as chief executive in 1997, turning over the reigns to Coffman, but remained on the board until now. Coffman stepped down last year as chief executive after 37 years at the company but also stayed on the board.

Augustine, 68, and Coffman, 60, are retiring for personal reasons, a company spokesman said. Neither will retain a formal relationship with the company.

Stevens now holds three titles: chairman, chief executive and president. Bethesda-based Lockheed, which makes the F-16 fighter jet, satellites and rockets, has no chief operating officer.

-- Renae Merle

· Canon U.S. Life Sciences, a subsidiary of copier company Canon U.S.A., is to announce today that it will establish a laboratory in Rockville. The company said the lab would adapt its technologies for such uses as diagnostics and medical instrumentation. The company plans to occupy about 7,500 square feet at 9800 Medical Center Dr. starting next month. Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., (R) the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development and Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan worked to recruit Canon. In a statement, Ehrlich called Canon's decision "a tremendous win" for the state's bioscience community.

· Hughes Network Systems of Germantown, which provides satellite communications, has its new ownership structure in place. SkyTerra Communications and Rupert Murdoch's DirecTV Group said last week that they had completed the joint-ownership deal they announced in December. At that time, SkyTerra said it was paying $50 million and 300,000 shares of its stock for half of Hughes Network Systems. SkyTerra is an affiliate of Apollo Management, which was founded by financier Leon D. Black.

· Arinc Managed Services , which provides communications and information processing systems to transportation industries and defense agencies, has acquired TechMart, an information-technology staffing company, on terms that were not disclosed. Both companies are in Annapolis.

· John M. Brophy first made his name in Washington as a bureaucrat in the District's transportation department in the 1970s, setting up the D.C. program for managing street parking. He turned that pursuit into a business, building what is now the State and Local Solutions Group at Affiliated Computer Services Inc. into an outfit with $2 billion in annual revenue from operating the EZPass system on highways, administering child-support payments and operating red-light traffic cameras. Last week, Brophy was named leader of the years by the Greater Washington Board of Trade, an award given to business and other executives who make major contributions to the region. Past honorees were on hand, including John T. "Til" Hazel, R. Robert Linowes and Leonard B. "Bud" Doggett Jr. So was the political crowd -- Brophy's business lives or dies on its relationships with local officials -- including D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) and former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown. Brophy's parting gift: a giant stoplight, outfitted with a camera.

· Privasoft of Ontario opened its U.S. headquarters in Herndon to sell software to federal, state and local government agencies to process requests they receive under the Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act. According to Jim Howard, the company's vice president for business development, said Privasoft developed its software for Canadian government agencies. He said the company also has expanded into Mexico and the European Union.