WALTHAM, Mass., May 14, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) has appointed Dr. James W. Wade to the position of vice president, Mission Assurance. Wade will report to Mark E. Russell, the company's vice president of Engineering, Technology and Mission Assurance.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100514/NE04784 )

"Jim is eminently qualified to lead end-to-end Mission Assurance, performance excellence and Raytheon Six Sigma throughout the company," Russell said. "He will focus on driving operational excellence and improvement across the full spectrum of programs in all of their phases to achieve mission success for Raytheon customers. As such, he will reach across the entire enterprise, supply base, business partners, and customer base to enable customer success."

Wade joins Raytheon from MIT Lincoln Laboratory where he was the head of its Safety and Mission Assurance Office from 2006 to 2010. At Lincoln Laboratory, he led the Laboratory efforts to establish a mission assurance capability and to apply mission assurance to many of its larger programs. He was also responsible for enhancing the system and component development capabilities for hardware, software, integration and quality.

Prior to joining MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Wade spent 13 years with NASA at the Johnson Space Center from 1993 to 2006. While at NASA, he held a number of management and leadership positions, most recently as the manager of the International Space Station's Safety and Mission Assurance/Program Risk Office.

Wade holds a doctorate in aerospace engineering sciences from the University of Colorado, Boulder; a Master of Science degree in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from the University of Illinois; a Masters in Business Administration degree and a Master of Science degree in space science from the University of Houston – Clear Lake; and a Bachelor of Arts degree in physics from Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minn.

Raytheon Company, with 2009 sales of $25 billion, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, homeland security and other government markets throughout the world. With a history of innovation spanning 88 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration and other capabilities in the areas of sensing; effects; and command, control, communications and intelligence systems, as well as a broad range of mission support services. With headquarters in Waltham, Mass., Raytheon employs 75,000 people worldwide.

SOURCE Raytheon Company