In an interview with the News-Press in Arlington today, Northrop Grumman CEO and President Wes Bush said he is “very satisfied” that “there is no impediment” in Virginia to his company’s full implementation of its pioneering anti-discrimination internal policies. He spoke with the News-Press following his joint press conference with Gov. Bob McDonnell to officially announce Northrop Grumman’s decision to relocate its national headquarters from Los Angeles to Northern Virginia. Some sources report the headquarters, with its 300 high-paid staff, will be situated in the Fairview Park section of Greater Falls Church.
In an interview with the News-Press in Arlington today, Northrop Grumman CEO and President Wes Bush said he is “very satisfied” that “there is no impediment” in Virginia to his company’s full implementation of its pioneering anti-discrimination internal policies. He spoke with the News-Press following his joint press conference with Gov. Bob McDonnell to officially announce Northrop Grumman’s decision to relocate its national headquarters from Los Angeles to Northern Virginia. Some sources report the headquarters, with its 300 high-paid staff, will be situated in the Fairview Park section of Greater Falls Church.
Bush made a considerable effort to outline his company’s anti-discrimination policies, saying explicitly that they extend to sexual orientation and gender identity, and that Northrop Grumman was among the first to extend benefits to domestic partners. He said his company has received many accolades and awards for its progressive internal policies.
With 30,000 of its employees already in Virginia (about 18,000 in the Tidewater area and the rest in Northern Virginia), Bush said that he “satisfied” there will be no conflict between his company’s internal policies and, for example, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s recent ruling against the extension of anti-discrimination protections to gays and lesbians. He would not comment about whether Gov. McDonnell had made that assurance explicitly to him during the negotiations for the company’s relocation to Virginia, saying that he didn’t want to divulge the content of private negotiations.
