Marillyn Hewson

Hewson was born in Junction City, Kansas to Warren Adams and Mary Adams. Her father died when she was nine years old and her mother, a former WAC, raised five siblings, then aged 5 to 15. Hewson credits her mother's resilience, hard work, and determination with teaching her leadership skills and wrote, in "A mother's resilience", for Politico, in 2013, that "My mother did what all great leaders do: she sparked the growth of future leaders."

She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in business administration and her Master of Arts degree in economics from the University of Alabama. She also attended the Columbia Business School and Harvard Business School executive development programs.

Hewson joined the Lockheed Corporation in 1983 after 4 years as an economist at the Bureau of Labor Statistics. She has held a variety of executive positions with the company, including President and Chief Operating Officer, Executive Vice President of Lockheed Martin's Electronic Systems business area, President of Lockheed Martin Systems Integration, Executive Vice President of Global Sustainment for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, President and General Manager of Kelly Aviation Center, L.P., and President of Lockheed Martin Logistics Services. On November 9, 2012, she was elected to Lockheed Martin's board of directors. She subsequently served as CEO from January 2013 until June 2020. She has also served on the board of directors for Sandia National Laboratories since 2010 and DuPont since 2007.

In July 2015, Hewson announced Lockheed's purchase of Sikorsky Aircraft, the producers of Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, giving Lockheed its own helicopter building capability. Hewson also shifted more company efforts towards building military hardware. Hewson joined the board of Johnson & Johnson in 2019.

On March 16, 2020, Lockheed announced that Hewson would become the executive chair of the board and be replaced as CEO on June 15. James Taiclet was named as her successor.

Hewson retired as executive chairman and board member in March 2021.