Power Player: Lockheed's Robert Stevens

Job cuts could start as early as April, warns outgoing Lockheed Martin CEO Robert Stevens, as the Pentagon's biggest defense contractor could see funding dry up due to the fiscal cliff.

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5 months ago

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The Power Player today is Robert Stevens, CEO of Lockheed Martin. Stevens, who runs the Pentagon's leading defense contractor, has been very vocal about the fiscal cliff. He says getting a resolution would go a long way in removing uncertainty in the business community. SOUNDBITE: ROBERT STEVENS, LOCKHEED MARTIN CEO, SAYING (ENGLISH): "I think our hope aligns with the hopes of many people around the country and that is that our national leaders find a way to avoid the fiscal cliff issues, and for us particularly sequestration, and we've been more vocal than perhaps on this subject than we've been on other subjects because we think that across the board reduction of expenses is not the best way to reduce spending. We recognize spending has to come down. We're talking about the way we would reduce spending in a smart and logical way that aligns with strategy and fore structure and concept of operation. We think there is a better way." Sequestration, a form of mandatory government spending cuts as part of the fiscal cliff, may mean massive job losses at Lockheed Martin as soon as April. But Stevens won't have to deal with it. He is leaving his CEO job to Marillyn Hewson, a Lockheed long-timer, who takes over in January.