Apple has announced that Dr Ronald D Sugar has joined the company’s board of directors. Sugar will serve as the chair of the Audit and Finance Committee.
“Ron is an engineer at heart, who then became a very successful business leader. We are very excited to welcome him to Apple’s Board,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s chief executive. “In addition to having been the CEO of a high-tech Fortune 100 company, Ron has a PhD in engineering and has been involved in the development of some very sophisticated technology.”
“I have always had enormous admiration for the people of Apple,” said Sugar. “It is a special privilege to serve on the board of such an amazing company.”
Sugar has a doctorate in engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles, and most recently was chief executive officer at Northrop Grumman, an aerospace and defence firm whose products include the Stealth bomber, from 2003 until his retirement in 2010.
He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of both the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Royal Aeronautical Society. He is also a director of Chevron, Amgen and Air Lease.
Sugar’s appointment to the board follows the departures of Jerome York, who died in March, and Google chief executive Eric Schmidt, who left in August 2009 following Google’s decision to take on Apple in mobile phone market.
