NEWPORT NEWS, Va., (Nov. 30, 2023) — HII’s (NYSE: HII) Newport News Shipbuilding division today hosted a shipyard update briefing for state and local elected officials and community leaders.

The breakfast and briefing, held in Newport News, brought together public officials from the Virginia Governor’s office, Virginia General Assembly and local municipalities that surround the shipyard, as well as community leaders and Navy representatives, to build connections and identify new opportunities to collaborate to support important national security work underway at Virginia’s largest industrial employer.

Attendees received briefings on shipbuilding programs at NNS and workforce development efforts in the region that have resulted from strong partnerships with the U.S. Navy and their Submarine Industrial Base office, commonwealth of Virginia, Department of Labor, Hampton Roads Workforce Council and individual training providers. One example that was highlighted was the establishment of the Hampton Roads Regional Workforce Training System that is coordinating and integrating workforce training within a 100-mile radius of Hampton Roads to meet the needs of NNS, its suppliers and the broader maritime industry.

“Today our industry benefits from numerous trades training and career awareness programs that originated from partnerships with organizations represented in this room,” NNS President Jennifer Boykin said. “We need to collaborate more to create the systems that will allow us to train our next generation of shipbuilders. To build great ships and invest in the facilities and capabilities needed to sustain our nearly 138-year-old company for another century, it will take all of us working together. Our mission to support our United States Navy with the world’s best nuclear-powered ships directly impacts all of us: our community, our commonwealth and our national defense.”

NNS is on track to hire approximately 3,000 skilled trade positions by the end of this year to meet the Navy’s shipbuilding needs and anticipates hiring nearly 19,000 people within the next decade as it continues its support of the Navy’s mission.

“To meet our hiring demand, we must leverage partnerships at all levels of the community and government,” said Xavier Beale, NNS vice president of human resources. “Today’s breakfast was an opportunity to do that — capitalizing on existing partnerships and establishing new ones — bringing partners together to highlight our needs, how they can help, and why it is critical for national security. Only by working together can we meet our commitments to the Navy and to our country.”

With more than 25,000 employees, NNS is the nation’s sole designer, builder and refueler of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and one of only two shipyards capable of designing and building nuclear-powered submarines for the U.S. Navy.

To learn more about career opportunities at HII, visit https://hii.com/careers/.

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