Ball Corporation has announced that David L. Taylor, president and CEO of Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. for more than a decade, will retire at the end of March after a 29-year career with the company. Succeeding Taylor will be Robert D. Strain, who currently is chief operating officer of Ball Aerospace.

"Dave Taylor led a transformation of our aerospace business into an agile, high-performing aerospace and defense enterprise, guiding its entry into new customer agencies and growing our aerospace segment sales and profits significantly since 2002," said John A. Hayes, president and chief executive officer of Ball Corporation.

"This business has played an important role in Ball Corporation's success over the past decade, and we thank Dave for his vision and leadership and wish him well in retirement."

Strain, 56, joined Ball Aerospace in March 2012. He has served as director of NASA's Goddard Spaceflight Center and has held leadership roles at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Orbital Sciences Corporation and Fairchild Space and Defense.

Strain will focus on continuing the growth of Ball Aerospace and solidifying the market gains achieved during Taylor's tenure.

"Rob Strain's extensive experience in the private, public and academic sectors, and his strong record of managing programs and cultivating relationships, will be key to continuing our tremendous growth trajectory and helping us achieve our Drive for 10 vision," Hayes said.

Ball Corporation is a supplier of high-quality packaging for beverage, food and household products customers, and of aerospace and other technologies and services, primarily for the U.S.

government. Ball Corporation and its subsidiaries employ approximately 15,000 people worldwide and reported 2012 sales of more than $8.7 billion. For the latest Ball news and for other company information, please visit