Mr Marsh had retired in 2006 as executive vice president at the Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, a developer of advanced technologies for defense and space applications. Ms Vlahakis had retired in 2005 as executive vice president and COO with Alliant Techsystems (ATK), a supplier of aerospace and defense technologies. He served in a number of senior leadership positions at Alliant, including group vice president of defense, from which he was appointed to the role of COO in 2002. The company has announced that with the addition of Mr Marsh and Mr Vlahakis, the ION board of directors now comprises of eight independent directors and ION CEO, Bob Peebler. Jay Lapeyre, chairman of ION, said: "When the search process began to find a replacement for our retiring director Sam Smith, we knew it would be challenging to find a single qualified individual with proven leadership skills and broad management experience in advanced technology companies."