Ball Corporation (NYSE: BLL) has announced that Robert D. Strain, SVP, Ball Corporation and President of Ball Aerospace, will retire effective January 1, 2021, after more than 30 years in the aerospace industry. Dr. David Kaufman, COO of Ball Aerospace since January 2020, will succeed Strain in a similar capacity.
Dr. Kaufman has more than 25 years of engineering and management experience supporting the aerospace industry and government customers. He joined Ball Aerospace in 2000 as a spacecraft systems engineer and has held several leadership positions of increasing responsibility.
He served as VP and GM of the National Defense Strategic Business Unit from 2013 to 2019, when he was named COOP in January 2020. Kaufman began his aerospace career as a thermal engineer at Hughes Space & Communications Co.
Kaufman received a B.S. in mathematics from Willamette University, a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Stanford University, and an M.S. and Ph. D in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology.
“Rob has had a long and accomplished career in the industry and has successfully led our aerospace business to be a trusted, mission-critical partner to our civil, defense and intelligence customers. We thank him for his leadership during a time of unprecedented growth for Ball Aerospace and wish him well in retirement,” said John A. Hayes, Ball’s chairman, President and CEO. “Rob has worked closely with Dave throughout 2020 to ensure a smooth transition for our business, employees and customers. We are excited about the future and look forward to continued growth and operational excellence under Dave’s leadership.”
