Charles Woodburn

British businessman (born 1971)

Charles Nicholas Woodburn (born 11 March 1971) is a British businessman who has been the CEO of BAE Systems since July 2017.²

From Wikipedia’s article on Charles Woodburn (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Born 1971.¹

Companies

BAE SystemsChief executive officer Jul 1, 2017 to now¹²

Early life and education

Date not recordedUniversity of Cambridge Doctor of Philosophy; engineering^{3 4}
Date not recordedSt John's College³
Date not recordedErasmus University Rotterdam Master of Business Administration^{3 4}

Woodburn was born on 11 March 1971 and went to Dr Challoner's Grammar School in Amersham, England. Woodburn earned a bachelor's degree in electrical sciences from St John's College, Cambridge in 1992 and a PhD in engineering from Cambridge University, followed by an MBA from Erasmus University Rotterdam.

From Wikipedia’s article on Charles Woodburn (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Career

Occupation: chief executive officer, businessperson.⁸

Since 2017Chief executive, BAE Systems⁶
Date not recordedWorked at BAE Systems⁵
Date not recordedChief executive officer⁷

Woodburn began his career in 1995, working for the oil services company Schlumberger. From 2010 to 2016, he was the chief executive of Expro Group. In May 2016, Woodburn joined BAE Systems as its chief operating officer. Following the retirement of Ian King, Woodburn was appointed CEO of BAE in July 2017.

In December 2024, Woodburn was one of six executives sanctioned by the Chinese government over arms sales to Taiwan.

In March 2025, Woodburn joined the UK government's Board of Trade as a board adviser.

From Wikipedia’s article on Charles Woodburn (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Personal life

Born1971, Windsor⁹

Woodburn is married with two children and lives in Surrey.

From Wikipedia’s article on Charles Woodburn (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Awards

2020Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering^{10 11}

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

1
WikidataCharles Woodburn on Wikidata
2
WikipediaCharles Woodburn on Wikipedia
3
WikidataCharles Woodburn: education, on Wikidata
4
Wikidataeducation, as reported
5
WikidataCharles Woodburn: Worked at BAE Systems, on Wikidata
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WikidataCharles Woodburn: Chief executive, BAE Systems, on Wikidata
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WikidataCharles Woodburn: Chief executive officer, on Wikidata
8
WikidataCharles Woodburn: occupation, on Wikidata
9
WikidataCharles Woodburn: place of birth, on Wikidata
10
WikidataCharles Woodburn: award, on Wikidata
11
Wikidataaward, as reported
12
WikidataBAE Systems, Chief executive officer

Companies

Early life and education

Career

Personal life

Awards

Links

Sources