David Horne has been promoted to vice president of Trades at Newport News Shipbuilding.

Horne’s promotion comes following the restructuring of trades and human resources and administration from one large organization into two standalone organizations. Xavier Beale will continue as vice president of Human Resources and Administration. Both Horne and Beale will report directly to NNS President Jennifer Boykin.

“Each part of this organization is critical to our success,” Boykin said. “Our human resources and administration team must focus on hiring, retention and development of employees, while the trades team must focus on safely and efficiently executing our work volume. Based on these changing dynamics, I am restructuring these teams back into standalone organizations to reflect the scope of responsibility and leadership bandwidth required for each.”

Since 2022, Horne has served as senior director of trades. He is a third-generation shipbuilder and began his shipbuilding career in 1983 as a welder prior to entering NNS’ Apprentice School as a pipefitter.

He has held numerous positions of increasing responsibility, including production department refueling manager, refueling trade superintendent, trade director and program trade director.

“Dave’s promotion reflects his exceptional leadership, experience and dedication, as well as his extensive knowledge of the standards and principles that we are working to strengthen across the entire organization,” Boykin shared.

A 1989 honors graduate of the NNS’ Apprentice School, Horne holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Christopher Newport University and a master’s degree in engineering management from Florida Institute of Technology.