By Emelie Rutherford
Northrop Grumman [NOC] has tapped former Senate appropriations aide Sid Ashworth to head up its Washington lobbying shop, the company said yesterday.
She replaces Robert Helm, the company’s former corporate vice president of government relations, who left in April to become senior vice president of planning and development at General Dynamics [GD].
Northrop Grumman has undergone a series of organizational changes and is in the process of relocating its corporate headquarters from Los Angeles to Falls Church, Va. It has grappled in recent years with rocky weapon-system efforts, including the Air Force tanker aircraft and Navy shipbuilding programs.
Ashworth worked for 14 years as a professional staff member for the Republican side of the Senate Appropriations Committee. She left Congress is 2009, when her final position was minority staff director for the committee.
Ashworth most recently worked as vice president of Washington operations for GE Aviation [GE].
Ashworth will juggle relations between the company and the U.S. government. She will report to company CEO and President Wes Bush and be part of the company’s Corporate Policy Council.
“Her extensive legislative and executive branch expertise, including many years as a professional staff member with the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations and as a civilian in the Department of the Army, are well suited to her new role,” Bush said in a statement.
Ashworth will start her new job on Aug. 16.