Woodward, Inc. announced that Robert F. Weber, Jr., Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer has announced his intention to retire effective January 3, 2020, after more than 14 years as the CFO of the company. As part of the company's succession planning for the Chief Financial Officer role, Jonathan “Jack” W. Thayer, has joined the company effective as Vice Chairman, Corporate Operations, reporting to Mr. Gendron. Mr. Thayer will also be appointed to Chief Financial Officer on October 1, 2019, the beginning of Woodward's fiscal year 2020.

Mr. Weber will then transition into a senior consultant role supporting Mr. Gendron and the senior leadership team through his January 2020 retirement date. Mr. Thayer has extensive expertise in corporate finance and strategy, equity offerings, complex M&A transactions, and risk management. He served as Chief Financial Officer of Exelon Corporation from 2012 until his appointment in May 2018 to Chief Transformation Officer.

In Mr. Thayer's capacity as Vice Chairman, Corporate Operations, he will have direct oversight of the company's Strategy and Business Development, Human Resources, Legal and Compliance, Corporate Technology, and Information Technology functions.