5.13.2008 - 09:34am ET

(CSRwire) WALTHAM, Mass., May 13, 2008 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) has been honored as a 2007 Best-Practice Partner by APQC (American Productivity and Quality Center) for its exceptional work and innovative approaches in leadership development. Raytheon was one of only five companies selected to receive this award.

APQC is a nonprofit organization that identifies corporate best practices to discover effective methods of improvement. This information enables companies to adapt to rapidly changing environments, build new and better ways to work, and succeed in a competitive marketplace.

"The APQC award highlights our commitment and dedication to the professional development of our employees and is directly reflective of the investments we've made in building a robust talent pipeline within our company," said Keith Peden, Raytheon's senior vice president of Human Resources.

Raytheon was specifically recognized for its efforts in identifying, assessing and developing high-potential employees. Its innovative programs span all levels of the organization from entry level candidates to the executive team.

"Raytheon was chosen as a best practice partner organization due to its executive assessment program, formal leadership curricula, Human Resources review process as well as its organizational structure and support to maximize diversity efforts enterprise-wide," said Ruth Stevelman, project manager at APQC. "Our mission is to help organizations learn from best-practice partners like Raytheon that have proven track records in leadership development."
As part of the award, Raytheon recently hosted about 20 industry leaders and best-practice partner recipients to share its winning strategies, programs and processes for high potentials. These will be presented in an APQC benchmarking study, with the final report shared at the project's concluding meeting in Houston, Texas, May 14-15, 2008.

Raytheon Company, with 2007 sales of $21.3 billion, is a technology leader specializing in defense, homeland security and other government markets throughout the world. With a history of innovation spanning 86 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration and other capabilities in the areas of sensing; effects; and command, control, communications and intelligence systems, as well as a broad range of mission support services. With headquarters in Waltham, Mass., Raytheon employs 72,000 people worldwide.

For more than 30 years, APQC has worked with organizations across all industries to find practical, cost-effective solutions to drive productivity and quality improvement. Each time APQC convenes a consortium to study a business process or issue, a select group of participating organizations is chosen to serve as best-practice partners. These organizations must have exhibited exceptional performance or employed innovative approaches in the research area and are studied in depth to help APQC identify what elements are keys to their success. APQC's experts guide the process, conduct the research and develop a formal report for approximately one-tenth the cost of one-on-one benchmarking. For more information, visit http://www.apqc.org or call 800.776.9676 or 1.713.681.4020.

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