Exclusive | Women at L3Harris Shared Concerns About CEO’s Behavior Years Before Ouster

It was a warning that was shared among women who worked for Chris Kubasik: Avoid being alone with the executive and be careful on the corporate jet.

Multiple women at defense contractor L3Harris Technologies LHX -0.87%decrease; down pointing triangle had raised concerns about Kubasik’s behavior, including a formal complaint from one woman to human resources that was made around 2023, according to people familiar with the matter. The employee accused the CEO of sexual harassment, the people said.

Kubasik stayed on in his role. The woman left L3Harris. Not all L3Harris board members were briefed on the 2023 complaint and it is unclear whether the matter was formally investigated, the people said.

Recently, the directors launched a probe into Kubasik after another accusation against him. The board hired outside lawyers and investigated allegations of inappropriate conduct with a subordinate and aggressive, profane behavior, people familiar with the board deliberations said.

Kubasik was pushed out this week. L3Harris, without providing details, said the investigation found he had violated the company’s code of conduct. The company said the CEO was leaving without severance. In his separation agreement, Kubasik didn’t admit he violated policy or that there was a cause for termination.

“Mr. Kubasik categorically denies that he had a relationship with a subordinate and denies that any such allegation was the basis for the negotiated separation agreement,” according to a statement provided by a spokesman.

In a statement, the L3Harris board said it takes its code of conduct seriously and “any allegations of misconduct are reviewed thoroughly and independently, with outside counsel engaged when appropriate. The board remains unwavering in its commitment to effective oversight and governance that is in the best interest of the company.”

Kubasik, 65 years old, has been married since 1985, and he appeared with his wife at the exclusive Sun Valley conference in Idaho last month. The couple has residences in Florida and New York. Semafor reported Monday that Kubasik had been ousted over an inappropriate relationship with an employee.

In his exit, Kubasik surrendered $58 million worth of unvested stock and severance payments that would have been worth about $9 million, according to data-provider Equilar. He was able to keep vested stock options valued at around $28 million as of Monday. He separately owns roughly $59 million of L3Harris stock, Equilar data show.

It is the second time in his career that Kubasik has been removed from a senior executive role after allegations about his conduct with an employee. In 2012, Kubasik was the president at Lockheed Martin and had been selected to take over as CEO when the company asked him to resign.

Lockheed said at the time that an investigation found Kubasik had a “lengthy, close personal relationship” with a subordinate that violated its code of ethics. The relationship was raised by an internal whistleblower. When he left Lockheed, Kubasik said in a statement: “I regret that my conduct in this matter did not meet the standards to which I have always held myself.”

Much like his sudden exit at Lockheed, his departure from L3Harris adds uncertainty to the company’s direction. Kubasik had cultivated close ties with the Trump administration and played a vital role in L3Harris’s negotiations with the Pentagon and other U.S. agencies, which account for 75% of its revenue.

The Pentagon commissioned L3Harris to quickly equip a Qatar-donated Boeing 747 jet for presidential travel. The contractor’s $400 million overhaul of the aircraft serving as Air Force One includes communications-system upgrades and security enhancements.

In a June LinkedIn post, Kubasik wrote: “We are deeply honored to deliver to the Commander-in-Chief a symbol of American strength that meets the nation’s highest standards without compromise.”

The jet will get more work done this fall, according to the White House, putting the plane out of commission for roughly a month.

Kubasik also secured an unusual deal with the Trump administration, which agreed to invest $1 billion in L3Harris’s missile business. In a January interview, Kubasik hailed the deal as a creative way to unwind consolidation of major defense contractors.

Kubasik, a Maryland native, spent a part of his childhood at an air base in the Philippines, where his father worked for the National Security Agency, according to an interview he gave to The Hill in 2012. Kubasik worked in public accounting, eventually becoming a partner at Ernst & Young, before joining Lockheed.

After Lockheed, Kubasik worked to rebuild his career. He joined aerospace consultant Seabury Advisory Group, eventually becoming the firm’s CEO. In 2015, he was hired to serve as president of New York-based L3 Technologies, a medium-size contractor with offerings like telecommunications gear and night-vision goggles.

The executive said from the get-go that he aimed to turn the business into the Pentagon’s “sixth prime” contractor. That would put the company in the same league as major weapons providers, including Lockheed.

In 2019, he closed L3’s $15 billion merger with Harris Corp., creating a company with 48,000 employees. In 2023, L3Harris bought Aerojet Rocketdyne for about $4.7 billion.

On a recent call with investors, Kubasik touted L3Harris’s tagline as a “trusted disruptor” in the defense industry. Less than three weeks later, he was out of a job.