In 2001, Novakovic was in Bosnia taking part in high-level defense talks. At the time, she served as the special assistant to Deputy Secretary of Defense Rudy de Leon (far left), who is now a General Dynamics board member. With them on the trip was future Secretary of Defense James Mattis (second from right), who also now serves on the company’s board.


quickly rising to deputy associate director for national security. She was responsible for overseeing and submitting the presi- dent’s budget for defense and intelligence agencies. “It was a superb place to learn at the


highest level the processes of government [and] the interstices of the defense budget,” she recalls. Five years later, Novakovic went to


work at the Pentagon as a top assistant to deputy defense secretaries John Hamre and Rudy de Leon. When she decided to move to the private sector, she took a close look at the top defense companies. She chose General Dynamics partly because its


Photos courtesy General Dynamics Corp. www.VirginiaBusiness.com


Phebe N. Novakovic Title: Chairman and CEO Age: 62 Family: Husband, David Morrison (former lobbyist for The Boeing Co.); three children, three grandchildren Education: Bachelor’s degree, Smith College; MBA, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania 2019 pay: $18.3 million ($1.6 million salary plus stock and options) Board memberships: JPMorgan Chase & Co., Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern University, Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation, National Military Family Association, Association of the United States Army, Ford’s Theatre


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