Newport News Shipbuilding gets new CFO

Don Godwin has been named vice president of business management and chief financial officer for Newport News Shipbuilding, parent company Huntington Ingalls Industries announced today.

Godwin will assume his new role Sept. 5 and report to shipyard President Jennifer Boykin. He succeeds Mike Helpinstill, who is joining the HII corporate staff as vice president of strategic transactions, according to a company statement.

Godwin most recently served as CFO of Hitachi Data Systems Federal. He has also worked as CFO at Harris Corp. and its predecessor companies.

"In addition to Don's strong financial background and business operations experience, he brings a unique, external perspective that will be critical to our business transformation into the digital shipbuilding world," Boykin said in the HII statement.