O'Neill named Northrop IT president

James O'Neill, president of a Northrop Grumman Corp.'s business unit, has been named president of the company's information technology sector.

O'Neill, 50, has been running one of the IT sector's business units, focused on the intelligence, space and enterprise security markets. He will assume his new position, which also carries the title of corporate vice president, on May 1. He will report directly to Ronald Sugar, the company's chairman, chief executive officer and president.

O'Neill will succeed Herb Anderson, 64, who will stay with the company through Nov. 1 as corporate vice president in charge of special projects for the CEO before retiring.

"Jim has been a leading high-technology executive for more than 25 years," said Sugar in a statement. "His extensive experience in meeting the needs of the United States government and commercial customers makes him ideally qualified to lead our important IT sector. Put simply, he's a proven executive who knows our customer base, and we look forward to his leadership."