King/Pettersson/10″/dt1st/mark2nd

Gary King

Partner

Deloitte & Touche LLP

Specialty: Corporate accounting

When Gary King was battling intense boredom during his stint in Vietnam in between the occasional action as a sniper in the infantry he made himself a promise to walk away from any job, no matter how good the pay, if he was not enjoying himself.

Deloitte & Touche is a long way from the jungles of Southeast Asia, but the 52-year-old King isn’t tempted to walk away these days.

He is the firm’s LCSP (Lead Client Services Partner) with Hughes Electronics in El Segundo, the biggest client for Deloitte & Touche’s L.A. office. That makes him responsible for all the services provided for Hughes, including auditing, taxes and consulting, which may at times involve overseeing the work of 200 to 300 Deloitte & Touche auditors worldwide.

As such, much of King’s day is spent in meetings with Hughes executives, addressing the various issues that his staff must attend to.

“He is extremely client-oriented and extremely responsible,” said Carol Wiesner, vice president and controller at Litton Industries Inc., where King served as LCSP for seven years before taking on the full-time LCSP position at Hughes last April.

Over the past year, King has been deeply involved in the spin-off of Hughes’ defense division to Raytheon. He and his staff worked around the clock to guide the company through the restructuring process, which resulted in the shedding of two-thirds of Hughes’ business.

The last three months have been hectic as well for King because Hughes’ satellites have become accident-prone. In May, pagers around the nation went silent because of a technical failure by a Hughes satellite, and recently another $200 million satellite exploded on takeoff in Florida. King is now analyzing how these accidents and the cost of fixing the underlying technical problems will impact earnings.

As a Detroit native, King has a strong interest in the world of engineering and engines. He drives a 1998 Corvette convertible and also owns a 1996 Honda Goldwing. And the University of Michigan graduate loves his cars. “The speed is phenomenal, and it keeps the juices flowing even during the morning commute,” he said.

Edvard Pettersson