Woodward, Inc. (Nasdaq: WWD) has appointed Paxton McVoy as Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer effective October 19, creating a new executive position responsible for enterprise resource planning, data and analytics, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and technology-enabled business transformation. McVoy joins from Veralto, where he helped build the global technology organisation following the company’s separation from Danaher, and will report directly to Woodward Chief Executive Officer Chip Blankenship. The appointment comes after Woodward’s third-quarter fiscal 2026 sales increased 21% to approximately $1.1 billion and adjusted earnings per share rose 43% to $2.52. Rather than responding to weakness, Woodward is adding senior technology leadership while the company is scaling quickly, making the role a test of whether digital systems can expand manufacturing capacity and productivity without allowing organisational complexity to grow at the same pace as revenue.
Woodward supplies control technologies for aerospace engines and industrial energy equipment. The company’s systems operate in environments where reliability and certification matter, meaning AI adoption and digital transformation need to improve productivity without undermining safety, quality or cybersecurity.
Why does Woodward need a Chief Information Officer on the executive leadership team now?
Rapid growth can expose weaknesses in enterprise systems that remain manageable at a smaller scale. Manufacturing organisations need procurement, engineering, inventory, quality, finance and customer systems to share accurate information, particularly when demand increases quickly.
Woodward’s 21% quarterly sales growth and 24% year-to-date growth create precisely that challenge. Revenue can outpace internal infrastructure if technology architecture was designed for a smaller company.
Making the CIO an Executive Vice President and direct report to the Chief Executive Officer gives technology greater organisational authority. McVoy will not simply run IT support but is expected to influence how Woodward operates across manufacturing, analytics and corporate processes.
The newly created nature of the role is therefore strategically important. It indicates that digital systems are moving from a support function into the core operating model.
How could artificial intelligence improve productivity inside an aerospace controls manufacturer?
Manufacturers generate enormous volumes of engineering, production and service data. AI can help analyse quality trends, predict equipment problems, optimise production schedules and assist engineers with complex information searches.
Woodward also supplies highly engineered products with long service lives, creating opportunities to use data for maintenance and aftermarket support. Better predictive tools can potentially reduce downtime for customers while increasing the value of Woodward’s service relationships.
Artificial intelligence also has applications in corporate workflows, software development and supply-chain analysis. Those uses can reduce manual processing without directly changing how safety-critical components are approved.
The boundary remains important because aerospace certification cannot simply be delegated to opaque automated systems. Human engineers, quality teams and regulators need traceable evidence supporting design and manufacturing decisions.
McVoy therefore needs a governance model that encourages automation where it creates value while keeping appropriate human control around high-consequence processes.
Why does enterprise resource planning matter as much as AI in Woodward’s transformation?
AI attracts more attention, but ERP systems often determine whether a manufacturer can scale efficiently. They connect purchasing, production, inventory, finance and customer orders, creating the operational data on which more advanced analytics depend.
Poor ERP integration can create excess inventory, production delays and inconsistent financial information. The costs become larger as the business grows because small errors are multiplied across more transactions and facilities.
McVoy’s responsibilities explicitly include enterprise resource planning, indicating that Woodward sees foundational technology as part of the transformation rather than focusing only on high-profile AI projects.
His experience at Veralto may be especially relevant because he helped establish technology systems after that company separated from Danaher. Building a technology organisation during corporate change requires decisions about system architecture, cybersecurity and operating processes simultaneously.
Woodward’s challenge is different but related. It needs technology architecture that can support rapid expansion without forcing every business unit to build its own disconnected solutions.
How strong are Woodward’s finances as the company expands digital investment?
Third-quarter sales reached approximately $1.1 billion, increasing 21% year over year. Earnings per share increased 36% to $2.40, while adjusted earnings per share rose 43% to $2.52.
Operating cash flow reached $147 million during the quarter, up 17%. For the first nine months, operating cash flow increased 48% to $352 million.
Those figures give Woodward flexibility to invest in technology without relying on cost cutting to finance every initiative. The company raised earnings guidance after the quarter, reflecting confidence in both aerospace and industrial demand.
Growth does not remove the requirement for discipline. Technology programmes can become expensive and disruptive if ERP implementations run over budget or require prolonged parallel systems.
McVoy will therefore need to demonstrate that digital investment improves working capital, manufacturing productivity and decision quality rather than simply increasing corporate technology spending.
What does Woodward’s share price say about expectations around continued execution?
WWD was trading around $336.54 during the October 16 session, up roughly 1% and close to recent highs. The share performance reflects strong earnings momentum and investor enthusiasm around aerospace demand.
A high valuation environment raises expectations because investors are already rewarding Woodward for growth. Digital investments need to reinforce that trajectory rather than merely protect existing operations.
The company also faces the familiar industrial challenge of converting strong demand into output. Aerospace suppliers can have substantial order opportunities while still being constrained by components, labour availability or manufacturing bottlenecks.
Technology can help coordinate those constraints, but it cannot eliminate every physical limitation. The most credible digital strategy therefore connects software and data with practical factory productivity rather than treating technology as an independent growth engine.
Could Woodward’s technology transformation change the skills it needs from employees?
Almost certainly, although Woodward has not announced a workforce reduction connected with McVoy’s appointment. More integrated enterprise systems can reduce manual administrative work while increasing demand for employees capable of working with data, automation and digitally connected manufacturing equipment.
Manufacturing engineers may increasingly need analytics capabilities, while cybersecurity becomes more important as plants and products become connected. Finance and supply-chain employees can also move away from repetitive reconciliation toward exception management and analysis.
That creates a reskilling challenge rather than a simple employment-reduction story. Companies often discover that digital transformation removes some tasks while creating demand for skills they previously lacked.
McVoy’s organisation will therefore influence workforce development as much as software procurement. Technology adoption only produces sustainable productivity when employees understand how to use the systems effectively.
What will show whether Woodward’s new CIO position is producing measurable value?
Working-capital efficiency is one indicator because better data and ERP integration should eventually improve inventory and planning. Cash conversion becoming stronger alongside revenue growth would support the investment case.
Manufacturing margins provide another measure. Digital systems that reduce scrap, improve scheduling or shorten downtime should eventually appear through operating performance.
Cybersecurity and system reliability form a less visible but equally important test. Growth becomes vulnerable if increasingly connected operations create greater exposure to cyber disruption.
The final measure is execution speed. Woodward needs its data and digital infrastructure to help engineering and operations respond faster as aerospace customers increase production.
The new CIO role therefore represents more than a senior IT appointment. Woodward is effectively acknowledging that digital architecture has become part of industrial capacity, and McVoy’s success will depend on whether software, AI and enterprise data allow a rapidly growing manufacturer to become more productive rather than simply more complicated.
Key takeaways on Paxton McVoy becoming Woodward Chief Information Officer
- Paxton McVoy becomes Woodward Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer on October 19.
- The CIO position is newly created.
- McVoy joins the Executive Leadership Team and reports to CEO Chip Blankenship.
- He previously served as Chief Information Officer at Veralto.
- His responsibilities include ERP, data, analytics, AI and cybersecurity.
- Woodward third-quarter sales increased 21% to approximately $1.1 billion.
- Adjusted earnings per share increased 43% to $2.52.
- Quarterly operating cash flow increased 17% to $147 million.
- WWD traded around $336.54 during the October 16 session.
- Manufacturing productivity and cash conversion will be key measures of the digital strategy.
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