Bell Helicopter, a Textron Inc. company, announced that Lisa Atherton has been named executive vice president of military business. In this role, Atherton will be responsible for providing strategic direction, overall management and performance for all government programs and business development efforts. Atherton succeeds Mitch Snyder who was recently appointed Bell Helicopter president and CEO.

 Atherton joined Bell Helicopter in 2012 and has held several leadership positions within military programs, including V-22 program manager for the V-22 program office and director of military programs. Prior to her new role, Atherton served as Bell Helicopter’s vice president of global military business development, where she led the combined domestic and international military business development activities, culminating in this year’s  landmark foreign military sales agreements for both the V-22 and H-1 programs.