Nicholas Chabraja

Nicholas D. Chabraja (pronounced cha-brah-ya) (born November 6, 1942, in Gary, Indiana ) is a Serbian - American lawyer and former chief executive officer of General Dynamics Corporation.

Career
In 1967 he got a law degree from the Northwestern University. He was then employed by the Jenner & Block law firm in which he stayed for almost thirty years, from 1968 to 1997. In this first and longest period of his career, he also served as a Special Counsel for the United States House of Representatives. He also held counseling positions for General Dynamics, being a Senior Vice President and Counsel from 1993 to 1994, and a Vice-Chairman from 1996 to 1997.

In 1997 he was appointed a Chief Executive Officer of General Dynamics, a position which he held for twelve years, stepping down from his office on June 30, 2009. This makes Nicholas Chabraja the longest-serving Chief Executive Officer of the top five defense contractors, the others being Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, and Raytheon. Under his management, General Dynamics grew rapidly, mainly through acquisitions: from $4 billion in sales and 29,000 employees to $29.3 billion in sales and 92,900 employees in 2008. In 2008, Nicholas D. Chabraja earned a total compensation of $17,962,579, which included a base salary of $1,375,000, a cash bonus of $4,500,000, stocks granted worth $3,756,556, options granted worth $7,926,420, and other compensation worth $404,603. In 2009, he was included in the list of the 24 "TopGun CEOs" in the US, published by Brendan Wood International, an advisory agency.

He is also a member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity.