Northrop Grumman Corp.’s board of directors has elected Linda Mills corporate vice president and president of its information technology sector effective Feb. 1.

Mills succeeds James O'Neill, who will retire May 1.

As president of the IT sector, Mills will lead a key provider of advanced IT, engineering and business solutions for domestic and international government clients. The sector has sales of about $4 billion and about 18,500 employees worldwide, the company said.

She will report to Ronald Sugar, chairman and chief executive officer at Northrop Grumman.

O’Neill will serve as a strategic adviser to Mills until his retirement.

Mills joined Northrop Grumman with the TRW acquisition in 2002 and has been president of the Civilian Agencies business group of the IT sector. She previously served as the sector’s vice president for operations and processes.

Before joining the IT sector, she was vice president for Mission Assurance/Six Sigma in the Mission Systems sector where she served in a number of increasingly responsible leadership positions since joining the company in 1979.

Mills has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Santa Clara University and a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Illinois.

Northrop Grumman of Los Angeles ranks No. 3 on Washington Technology’s 2007 Top 100 list of the largest federal government prime contractors.