Ian King

Ian was appointed Chief Executive of BAE Systems with effect from 1 September 2008 having originally been appointed to the Board of Directors as Chief Operating Officer, UK and Rest of the World at the beginning of 2007.

Ian started his career at Marconi in 1976 as a graduate entrant where he spent ten years in manufacturing at the company's defence electronics manufacturing operations in Scotland and Portsmouth.

From 1986-92 Ian was Finance Director of Marconi Defence Systems where he introduced programme management and project reporting systems, which were adopted as the Marconi Electronic Systems standards. He was Finance Director of Marconi Electronic Systems from 1992 to 1998, during this period he was appointed a non-executive director of the Canadian Marconi company and director of Marconi's two Anglo/French joint ventures in Space and Sonar.

Ian was the first Chief Executive of Alenia Marconi Systems, the joint venture between Marconi and Finmeccanica of Italy formed in December 1998. On completion of the British Aerospace / Marconi merger in November 1999, Ian was appointed Group Strategy and Planning Director reporting to the Chief Executive and responsible for the initial Strategic Business Plan for BAE Systems.

Ian was appointed to the post of Group Managing Director for Customer Solutions & Support (CS&S) at the start of 2001 responsible for growing a support and services business in the UK and international markets. In addition to leading the CS&S business, Ian was responsible for the integration of the Alvis business into a new Land Systems business following its acquisition in September 2004. This business has subsequently grown following further acquisitions and BAE Systems Land and Armaments is now a global leader in the industry.

Ian is also a non-executive director of Rotork plc, a world leader in the field of actuators, systems and services, for motorisation and manual operation of adaptions.

Ian is 53 and is married with one son. He lives in Portsmouth and is a lifetime supporter of Portsmouth Football Club. He enjoys a variety of ball sports, particularly golf, football and cricket.