Apple on Wednesday appointed Ronald Sugar to its Board of Directors. Sugar will serve as the Chair of the Audit and Finance Committee.

[ad#Google Adsense 300×250 in story]Sugar is the former Chairman of the Board and CEO of Northrop Grumman. He held the positions from 2003 until he retired in 2010. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of both the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Royal Aeronautical Society.

“Ron is an engineer at heart, who then became a very successful business leader. We are very excited to welcome him to Apple’s Board,” said Apple CEO Steve Jobs. “In addition to having been the CEO of a high-tech Fortune 100 company, Ron has a Ph.D. in engineering and has been involved in the development of some very sophisticated technology.”

Sugar fills the vacancy in Apple’s board left when Google’s Eric Schmidt quit last year.