US-based aerospace company Lockheed Martin's board of directors recently announced the appointment of its former Vice President and acting Treasurer, John W. Mollard as Interim Chief Financial Officer. The appointment follows former CFO, Kenneth R. Possenriede's early retirement, after 35 years of service, due to personal reasons. Mollard's appointment is effective from August 4, 2021.

Possenriede's retirement comes two days prior to the company's virtual investor event scheduled on August 5, 2021. The aerospace company intends to take a US$1.3 billion after-tax charge in the third quarter and lower its full-year earnings outlook by US$4.75 a share, after transferring US$4.9 billion of its pension obligations to Athene Holding Ltd, and the CFO's presence will be critical. Hence Mollard, with his extensive experience in corporate finance at Lockheed Martin for years, will be joining the scheduled investors event as acting CFO, on Possenriede's behalf.

At Lockheed Martin, Mollard held the position of Vice President for corporate financial planning and analysis for a good period of 13 years and then was promoted to a top financial role, as Corporate Treasurer in 2016.

While the company finds a permanent replacement for Possenriede, Mollard will take over the responsibilities of Chief Financial Officer. Speaking about Possenriede's early retirement, Mollard revealed that the retirement was purely due to personal reasons. He further cleared the air stating that the departure was not related to any financial, accounting issue or disagreement with the company.

Lockheed Martin’s leadership is confident that Mollard is well suited to lead the finance segment of the company, while the search for permanent replacement is underway. Lockheed Martin Chairman, President and CEO James Taiclet said: "Given his nearly four decades with Lockheed Martin and familiarity with the company's businesses, stakeholders and capital structure, John is uniquely suited to lead our finance organization while our search process is underway. We are proud to have a deep-bench of talent and thank John for stepping into the CFO role on an interim basis."