L3Harris removes CEO Kubasik after code of conduct probe

L3Harris Technologies has removed Christopher Kubasik as chairman and chief executive, effective immediately, after a board investigation found he had breached the company's code of conduct. The company said the matter was unrelated to financial reporting, internal controls, customer relationships or operating performance.

According to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Kubasik will not receive severance pay or benefits, and no unvested equity awards will accelerate. He can still exercise stock options that had already vested.

The board named Sam Mehta as the new president and chief executive and added him to the board. Mehta had been running the company's Space & Mission Systems and Communications & Spectrum Dominance units, which together generate more than 80% of L3Harris revenue. He joined the company in 2023 from Collins Aerospace, where he led Advanced Structures, and before that spent more than seventeen years at Sikorsky.

Lead independent director Lewis Hay III was named chairman.

This is the second time Kubasik has lost a senior aerospace and defense role over a conduct inquiry. In 2012, Lockheed Martin removed him just before he was due to become chief executive, after an ethics investigation found he had maintained a close personal relationship with a subordinate.

L3Harris has not detailed the nature of the conduct that led to this dismissal. One outlet, citing people familiar with the investigation, reported that Kubasik was found to have had an inappropriate relationship with an employee. L3Harris has not confirmed this account.