The Jet Propulsion Laboratory has selected William H. Harrison, a 25-year veteran of finance in Fortune 100 corporations, to become the new senior financial executive.
Harrison, whose appointment is effective immediately, was chosen after a nationwide search to fill the newly created position of JPL controller, said JPL Director Dr. Edward C. Stone. As controller, Harrison will oversee the Laboratory's financial operations and become a member of JPL's Executive Council, the Laboratory's senior governing body.
With more than 25 years of experience in financial management, Harrison joins JPL from Allied-Signal, Inc., of Torrance, Calif., where he was executive director of finance for the avionics group. In that position he was responsible for the financial management of a $1.2 billion avionics business, including strategic planning, performance analysis and reporting, annual budgets and organizational staffing and development.
Harrison also served recently as group controller for Honeywell Space Systems where he reengineered the finance department and won a corporate award for the best accounting organization two years in a row.
"Bill is a pleasure to work with and will be a significant asset to the Laboratory during the process of reengineering our business practices," Stone said. "By virtue of his position, he will become a member of JPL's Executive Council and actively participate in the day-to-day decisions of the Laboratory as we move toward a faster and better way of exploring the solar system."
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a federally funded research and development center, is managed by the California Institute of Technology for NASA.
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