Organizational Announcement
As our surface combatant programs continue to advance toward key milestones, we are strengthening our leadership structure to ensure continued excellence in execution, alignment across programs and sustained partnership with our Navy customer. To support these priorities, we are making the following leadership assignments within Program Management, effective immediately.
Chris Brown has been promoted to Program Manager of the DDG51 Program, bringing with him 26 years of shipbuilding experience across HII shipyards. In this role, he will lead all aspects of DDG51 program execution, including performance in safety, quality, cost and schedule, and will coordinate closely across internal functions and with the customer. Most recently, Chris served as the DDG 129 Ship Program Manager and has previously held roles as the DDG Pre-Launch Ship Program Manager, Ship Design Manager for NSC, DDG and DDG(X) programs, as well as Program Manager for DDG(X) and AS(X). A U.S. Navy veteran, Chris holds both undergraduate and graduate engineering degrees from Virginia Tech and was recognized with a Forever Young Award from Coast Young Professionals in 2022.
Chad Barlow has been promoted to Director and Ship Program Manager for DDG 131. With 19 years at Ingalls, Chad has served in multiple key leadership roles within Industrial Engineering, including manager of Budgeting, Metrics, Automation and Earned Value. Through these roles, he developed a strong foundation in cost and schedule management that has been instrumental in supporting the DDG51 program, including the recent launch of DDG 131. A third-generation shipbuilder, Chad holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering technology from The University of Southern Mississippi and has been recognized with both the 2020 Coast Young Professionals Forever Young Award and the 2011 President’s Award.
John Fillmore has been promoted to FF(X) Program Manager in support of the new Frigate program, where he will lead the establishment of the ship class’s Program Office, shaping the program baseline and overseeing design, material and configuration across the class. John brings 28 years of experience to this role, having most recently served as manager on Planning Yard Services’ Engineering Integration team. John has also held leadership positions within the DDG51 Program Office, including serving as DDG51 Program Manager, and currently serves as capture manager for the Frigate program. John holds a civil engineering degree from the University of South Alabama.
Please join us in congratulating Chris, Chad and John as they step into these important roles and continue advancing the mission of Ingalls Shipbuilding.
Eric Crooker Vice President, Program Management