MAY 7-10, 2024 | Three Rivers convention center | kennewick, washington
speaker bios
Brent Gerry, Mayor/CEO, City of Richland, and Chair, ECA
Brent Gerry is serving his Third term as Mayor/CEO of the City of West Richland. His first term began on January 1, 2014. He previously served as a West Richland City Council Member for four years, from January, 2010 to December, 2013. Besides administrating the day to day operation of the City of West Richland Mayor Gerry also sits on 7 different local boards and commission within the local area. Chair Energy Communities Alliance, Chair Hanford Communities Administrative Board, TRIDEC Board Member, METRO Drug Task Force Board Member, Benton County Emergency Services Board Member, Police Information Network (BIPIN) Board Member.
Karl Dye, President/CEO, TRIDEC
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Congressman Dan Newhouse (WA-04) (Video)
Representative Dan Newhouse is a lifelong resident of Central Washington and is honored to represent the 4th District in Congress. Dan serves on the Appropriations Committee, which exercises jurisdiction on critical legislative issues for the 4th District. Dan served four terms as a legislator in the Washington State House of Representatives, representing the 15th Legislative District from 2003 to 2009. In the Legislature, Dan earned a reputation as a principled conservative willing to work with colleagues to support policies that foster economic growth.
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Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodger (WA-05) (Video)
Cathy McMorris Rodgers is Eastern Washington’s chief advocate in Congress, serving as the representative for the state’s 5th Congressional District. Since first being elected to the House in 2004, she has earned the trust of her constituents and praise on Capitol Hill for her hard work, conservative principles, bipartisan outreach, and leadership to get results for Eastern Washington. Growing up on an orchard and fruit stand in Kettle Falls, working at her family’s small business, and later becoming a wife and working mom of three, Cathy has lived the American Dream. Now, she works every day to rebuild that dream for our children and grandchildren.
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Senator Maria Cantwell - WA (Letter)
Maria Cantwell currently serves as a United States Senator for the State of Washington. As a respected leader – both in public service and in the private sector – Maria has always embraced the values she first learned growing up in a strong working-class family. With the help of Pell Grants, Maria was the first member of her family to graduate college. Later, a successful businesswoman in Washington's hi-tech industry, she helped build a company that created hundreds of high-paying jobs from the ground up.
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Rebecca Casper, Mayor, Idaho Falls, ID, and Chair, ECA’s New Nuclear Initiative
Rebecca Casper Mayor, City of Idaho Falls Rebecca is serving her third term as Mayor of the City of Idaho Falls, a city of approximately 70,000 nestled on the banks of Idaho’s Snake River. It is home to INL, the Idaho Clean-up Project and NRF. The city runs 6 enterprise funds/utilities with an annual budget of approximately $350M. Mayor Casper earned graduate degrees from BYU and UC Berkeley. Nationally, the Mayor serves as Vice Chair for the Energy Communities Alliance—advocating for environmental clean-up, New nuclear development, & cybersecurity interests. In Idaho, she is a long-time member of the Governor's LINE Commission advocating for effective statewide policy for all of Idaho's DOE missions.
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Dr. Michael Goff, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Nuclear Energy, U.S DOE
Dr. Michael Goff is the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy. Prior to joining the office as the PDAS, Dr. Goff was on assignment from Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to the Office of Nuclear Energy, where he was serving his third term as Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary. Dr. Goff also served a multi-year assignment as the Assistant Director for Nuclear Energy/Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President. He has held several management and research positions over more than 30 years at INL and Argonne National Laboratory. Dr. Goff has more than 70 publications related to the nuclear fuel cycle including separations technology, high-level waste development, and safeguards. Dr. Goff has a Bachelor of Nuclear Engineering (1986), a MSNE (1988), and a PhD in Nuclear Engineering (1991), all from Georgia Tech.
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Mike Squires, Managing Director of Government Affairs, UAMPS
Mike Squires is the Government Affairs Director for Utah Associated Municipal Systems (“UAMPS”) overseeing UAMPS’ state and federal government affairs strategy.
UAMPS is a political subdivision of the State of Utah whose membership consists of 50 municipal and other community-owned electric utilities located in Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Wyoming, Arizona and California. Most UAMPS members own and operate a local electric utility system that provides integrated retail electric service to residential, commercial, and industrial customers.
Prior to UAMPS, Mike worked for the Lt. Governor of Utah, and also as a congressional staffer in Washington covering health care, energy and environmental issues. Mike received his Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Brigham Young University and his Juris Doctorate from the University of Utah’s S.J. Quinney College of Law with a graduate certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law.
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Andrew Smith, Director of Communications, American Nuclear Society
Andrew Smith is the Director of Communications for the American Nuclear Society, where he manages external communications, strategic communications, media relations, and the ANS Rapid Response Taskforce of technical experts. Prior to ANS, Andrew was Senior Program Manager for Potomac Communications Group, a Washington, D.C.-based PR firm that specialized in stakeholder engagement and strategic communications in the energy, infrastructure and technology sectors. His journalism career spanned over 10 years and across two continents, with five of those years covering nuclear energy, electric utilities, state policymaking and regulation, deregulated wholesale electricity markets, energy infrastructure investments, and the power grid for S&P Global Market Intelligence and PEI Media. Andrew holds a Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Science from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and a Master of Arts in Journalism from Ulster University in Northern Ireland.
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Heather Hoff, Co-founder, Mothers for Nuclear
Heather Hoff, mother to Zoe, is a lifelong environmentalist, reactor operator and procedure writer at Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant for the last 20 years. She started Mothers for Nuclear with Kristin to help address climate change, air pollution, and energy sprawl. Heather have a materials engineering degree from Cal Poly, SLO.
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Kuhika Gupta, Associate Director, OU Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis
She is the Associate Director for Energy and Security policy at the Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis at the University of Oklahoma. Her research focuses on energy, climate, and security, with a specific emphasis on public perceptions regarding nuclear energy and climate change. In other research, Kuhika studies how narratives about nuclear energy are received and dispersed on social media platforms. She is also passionate about studying how different social, political, cultural, and institutional features influence policymaking. Key aspects of this comparative policy research have included work on how nuclear facility siting outcomes have been impacted by differing social and political structures globally. Her research has appeared in a number of academic journals, including Energy Policy, Policy Studies Journal, Review of Policy Research, and the Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis.
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Ann Verhey-Henke, Lead Project Manager, Fastest Path to Zero, University of Michigan; Co-Founder, Campfire Gatherings
Ann Verhey-Henke, MDiv, is a Lead Project Manager at the Fastest Path to Zero Initiative. Ann has held a variety of positions in her 25+ year career at the University of Michigan, all in service of building initiatives for faculty, staff, and students to work toward a common goal of innovation for societal impact. She founded Innovation in Action, a flagship student innovation program, as well as the Summer Studio, a design studio for teams of interdisciplinary students to focus on cutting-edge faculty research. Ann worked with faculty colleagues at Michigan Public Health to co-create Grant Sprints, an innovative and collaborative approach to idea generation, grant-writing, execution, and dissemination. She also worked with colleagues across UMSI, Law, and Academic Innovation to develop Design Jams, campus-wide opportunities for students to engage with community stakeholders on a pressing societal challenge.
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Dr. Lukas Brun, Director of Research, E4 Carolina
Lukas Brun is the Managing Director of Research & Economic Development at E4 Carolinas where he manages federal grant projects and other initiatives to define and activate regional energy value chains. Lukas also is an Adjunct Professor at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University where he teaches a graduate course on value chain analysis for the Center on International Development. Brun has published widely on the topic of economic development and competitiveness, including recent research appearing in Globalisation, Human Capital, Regional Growth and the 4th Industrial Revolution (Edward Elgar Press, 2019), The Oxford Handbook of Local Competitiveness (Oxford University Press, 2015), and the Economic Development Quarterly.
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Renee Johnston, Campaign Manager, Nuclear Matters
Renee Johnston is a senior associate director in APCO’s Raleigh office where she specializes in issues management and strategic communications, focusing on the energy industry. She has worked with such organizations as multinational consumer goods companies, clean energy advocacy groups, and regulated utility companies.
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Rep. Stephanie Barnard, Washington State House of Representatives
Stephanie Barnard was elected to the Washington State House of Representatives in 2022. She represents the 8th Legislative District, which encompasses portions of Benton and Franklin counties.
Stephanie’s legislative priorities are laser-focused on improving her region’s economy, strengthening businesses, and creating more family-wage jobs. She serves as the assistant ranking member of the Innovation, Community, and Economic Development and Veterans Committee, and she also holds positions on the Finance Committee and the Environment and Energy Committee.
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Tracy Boatner, President, East Tennessee Economic Council (ETEC)
Tracy Boatner is the President of the East Tennessee Economic Council (ETEC). Her work at ETEC is centered on creating economic growth by engaging business and public policy leaders, communicating the opportunities created by our region’s federal assets, and sharing our successes to attract public and private investments.
Before joining the ETEC staff in 2015, Tracy was the Executive Director for the largest nonprofit women’s organization in East Tennessee, the Junior League of Knoxville (JLK), where she led a group of more than 800 volunteers committed to leadership and community service.
In 2023, Tracy was appointed to the Tennessee Nuclear Energy Advisory Council by Governor Lee with the goal of making Tennessee the best state in the country for nuclear industry innovation and growth.
Tracy is a Baker Expert appointee serving as an Economic and Community Development fellow at the Baker School of Public Policy and Public Affairs, University of Tennessee.
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Senator Danny Carroll, State of Kentucky
Easter Seals West Kentucky, Pres/CEO. Baptist. MuSU, BS. Paducah Lions Club. Leadership Paducah Alumni Assoc. Briensburg Masonic Lodge. Ducks Unlimited.
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Taylor Stevenson, CEO, Envoy Public Labs
Tay is a true and thorough northern Minnesotan with a beard that varies in length based on the weather conditions. A cum laude graduate of Dartmouth College, Tay began his professional life as a candidate for state senate in his home town of Brainerd, MN during the 2010 and 2012 elections. Afterwards, he worked extensively in nonprofit leadership and development.
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April Wade, Executive Director, Virginia Nuclear Energy Consortium
April Wade is executive director of the Virginia Nuclear Energy Consortium (VNEC), which represents stakeholders invested in research and development, workforce development, innovation, and advocacy for the nuclear energy industry.
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David Reeploeg, Vice President for Federal Affairs, Tri-City Development Council
David Reeploeg serves as Vice President for Federal Programs of the Tri-City Development Council (TRIDEC) and Executive Director of Hanford Communities. Before assuming these duties, David spent over 12 years working for members of the Washington state congressional delegation, primarily in the offices of U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray. David is a native of the Tri-Cities, WA, and is a graduate of Hanford High School and the University of Washington.
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Greg Cullen, Vice President for Energy Services and Development, Energy Northwest
Greg Cullen joined Energy Northwest in 1993 and currently holds the position of vice president for Energy Services and Development. In this capacity, Greg is responsible for the operation and maintenance of Energy Northwest’s non-nuclear generating plants and the calibration and environmental labs. In addition, Greg oversees the development of projects in a broad range of areas, including clean energy generation and storage, electrification, demand response and support services.
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Diahann Howard, Executive Director, Port of Benton
Diahann Howard is the Port of Benton's executive director. She served as the Tri-Cities Research District, Innovation Partnership Zone as its executive director (2007-2020), Richland rotary president (2017-2018) and was named Rotarian of the Year (2011-2012). In October 2018, Howard was awarded a Professional Port Manager Certification from the American Association of Ports Authorities.
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State Senator, Mark Mullet, Washington’s 5th Legislative District
Mark Mullet is proud to represent the 5th Legislative District communities of Black Diamond, Issaquah, Maple Valley, North Bend, Renton, Sammamish, and Snoqualmie.
First elected to the Senate in 2012, Mark is currently the Vice Chair of the Senate Ways & Means Committee, where he also serves as the leader of the Senate’s capital budget team.
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Sean O’Brien, Executive Director, Energy Forward Alliance
Sean V. O’Brien is the Executive Director. O’Brien is the former Executive Director of the Congressional Western Caucus and previously served as the Deputy Chief of Staff and Legislative Director for Congressman Dan Newhouse (WA-04). Most recently he served as the Eastern Washington Director for Washington Policy Center.
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Nick Bumpaous, President, Central Washington Building and Construction Trades Council
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Bob Freeman, Chief Growth Office for Fuel, Framatome Inc.
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Seth Kirshenberg, Executive Director, ECA
For over 20 years, Seth Kirshenberg has been the Executive Director of the Energy Communities Alliance, the national non-profit organization of elected local government officials adjacent to defense nuclear facilities He has participated in several international (IAEA, Russia, Japan and UK) dialogues and meetings on integrating government decision-making into federal decision-making, addressing nuclear waste cleanup, nuclear waste storage issues and other similar issues. Mr. Kirshenberg has served on federal advisory boards including FFERDC and DERTF. Mr. Kirshenberg also is a lawyer where he has worked on over $25 billion of development projects in the U.S., Europe and Asia.
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Stephen Comello, Senior Vice President, Strategic Initiatives, EFI Foundation and Deputy Director of the Energy Futures Finance Forum
Stephen Comello is Senior Vice President, Strategic Initiatives at the EFI Foundation and Deputy Director of the Energy Futures Finance Forum.
Comello helps steer its overall direction including program development, fundraising, and operations. Within the Energy Futures Finance Forum, he leads the strategic development of all research products, drives the analytical agenda, and co-leads engagement with external stakeholders, including policymakers, business executives, advisory board members, and the academic and nongovernment organization communities.
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Dr. Monica C. Regalbuto, Director, Nuclear Fuel Cycle Strategy, Idaho National Laboratory
Dr. Regalbuto is a leader in the development of nuclear fuel cycle technologies, combining her knowledge in separations, computer simulations, and proliferation risk reduction. She has over 30 years of experience in radio-isotope processing, recovery and immobilization for environmental remediation, resource conservation and medical applications. She currently leads the integrated fuel cycle strategic initiative at the Idaho National Laboratory. In this role, she serves as the lead for the high assay low enrich uranium (HALEU) program, ensuring there is an adequate supply of HALEU fuel for advanced reactors and other applications.
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Jennifer Chandler, Piketon Village Council, OH
Jennifer Chandler is a councilwoman for the Village of Piketon, Ohio, the frontline community hosting the US DOE Portsmouth Site in southern Ohio. She serves as Chair of the Scioto Valley-Piketon Area Council of Governments and as the Chair of the Piketon Community Improvement Corporation. Ms. Chandler leads community development initiatives, infrastructure improvements, and economic growth strategies that promote private investments in the Village of Piketon. Ms. Chandler previously worked 23 years in the environmental field as a senior project manager and regulatory specialist. Ms. Chandler received a BS in Environmental Science from Ohio University and an MBA from the University of Findlay.
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Chad Cramer, McKinsey & Company
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Dave McCormack, CEO, Clean Energy Supplier Alliance
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Myron Kaczmarsky, Vice President, Holtec Government Services
Myron Kaczmarsky is Vice President of Holtec Government Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of Holtec International. With 40 years of experience in the nuclear industry Kaczmarsky is responsible for business growth and the compliant execution of the projects and services to US Government Agencies.
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C. Dale Vines, Executive Vice President of Business Development, AlliedPower
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Jeremy Bries, Director, Nuclear Projects, PacifiCorp
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Ali Zbib, Nuclear Industry Program Manager, PNNL
Ali Zbib joined Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in 2018 as the Nuclear Industry Program Manager to formulate and lead PNNL’s nuclear energy industry engagement strategy. In his role, Mr. Zbib works with industry partners and PNNL experts to identify capabilities and develop innovative solutions that address challenges in the areas of advanced reactors and advanced fuels. He focuses on building strategic partnerships that support reactor and fuel developers with their technology deployment efforts. In addition, Mr. Zbib manages the Reactor Materials group of about 50 experienced staff who advance fundamental materials science and development of materials for fission and fusion reactors. He also leads a team of experts specializing in techno-economic assessments in the areas of clean energy systems integration and deployment.
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Ben Reinke, Vice President of Global Business Development, X-energy
As Vice President of Global Business Development, Dr. Reinke leads the Business Development organization at X-energy and is responsible for end-to-end commercial reactor business development and sales – strategy and marketing, analytics, organizational management, customer relationship development, contract negotiations, capture management, and early-phase project management.
Dr. Reinke is an energy executive with expertise in science and innovation, clean energy technology development, industries of the future, nuclear systems, critical minerals and materials, space science and technology, and the nexus of energy security and national security. His policy development and implementation experience spans both the legislative and executive branches.
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Laura Hermann, Executive Officer, Potentiary
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Kirt Marlow, Idaho Advanced Energy Consortium
Kirt Marlow currently serves as the Executive Director of the Idaho Advanced Energy Consortium (IAEC), promoting the implementation of new nuclear energy initiatives in a multi-state region around the State of Idaho and neighboring states. Mr. Marlow also serves as part of the Energy Communities Alliance, supporting communities across the Department of Energy (DOE) complex, and leads the Nuclear Solutions business unit at Boston Government Services, LLC (BGS).
Mr. Marlow has been in the nuclear industry for 30 years supporting federal and commercial customers domestically and overseas. He attended undergraduate and graduate programs at Idaho State University. He began his career at Science Applications International Corp. working with dose and shield calculations for the Nevada Test Site and CBRN Protection for the Dept. of Defense. He supported the design and commissioning of the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project and permitting support for the New Waste Calcine Facility in Idaho. Working for Areva, he supported the Eagle Rock Uranium Enrichment Facility, completing a successful NRC license application and delivering presentations to the NRC Region II office. He continued working on energy projects in the U.S. and several international locations. In his current role as SVP at Boston Government Services, he manages their Nuclear Solutions Group, supporting DOE, advanced nuclear, and fuel cycle work.
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Ray Furstenau, Executive Director for Operations, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Raymond V. Furstenau serves as Director, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research. He joined the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2018.
Previously, Mr. Furstenau served at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) as Associate Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary and Central Technical Authority of the Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE). He has previously served as the Chief of Nuclear Safety for the Under Secretary of Energy. Before his senior leadership positions with DOE Headquarters, Mr. Furstenau worked at the DOE Idaho Operations Office for over 28 years in various roles, providing Federal oversight of nuclear energy and national security research programs and safety oversight of nuclear facility operations at the Idaho National Laboratory. Mr. Furstenau has also served previously on active duty as an officer in the Army Finance Corps and in the Army Reserve.
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Robbie Bennett, President & CEO. SRS Community Reuse Organization
Robbie Bennett joined the SRSCRO in April 2023 as President & CEO. In this position, he works to bring community leaders together to address challenges impacting economic diversification in the Augusta/Aiken Region. Prior to joining the SRSCRO, he spent more than 19 years promoting economic development where he supported the creation/retention of more than 10,625 jobs and $1.25 billion in capital investment. He is a champion for regionalism in the five county/two state region hosting SRS. Robbie holds a Bachelor Degree in Political Science from Lander University and a Master of Public Administration from the University of South Carolina.
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Dr. Everett Redmond, Senior Director, Fuel Supplies, Oklo
Everett Redmond is Senior Director Fuel Affairs at Oklo. Everett is responsible for government affairs and policy activities and supports efforts related to fuel fabrication and other fuel related issues. Everett joined Oklo in September 2022. Prior to joining Oklo, Everett was a Senior Technical Advisor at the Nuclear Energy Institute where he was responsible for programs and policy efforts to support commercialization of advanced reactor technologies. Everett was with NEI from 2006 to 2022. Before joining NEI, Everett was a Principal Engineer at Holtec International. Everett holds a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Nuclear Engineering (1997).
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Patrick Snouffer, Lead Program Manager – Fuel Supply Chain, Zeno Power
Mr. Snouffer is the Lead Program Manger – Fuel Supply Chain at Zeno Power Systems. He is a nuclear engineer with congressional policy experience advancing clean energy priorities. As the 2021 American Nuclear Society Congressional Science and Engineering Fellow working in US Senator Tina Smith’s office, he engaged with DOE, congressional offices, and other stakeholders to craft a technology neutral clean electricity plan, and led the office’s carbon capture and sequestration policy development. His nuclear engineering experience spans more than ten years in various roles including technical lead for advanced reactor business development, radioactive waste system design engineer for the Versatile Test Reactor, project lead for a multi-million dollar reactor safety system upgrade project at Sandia National Laboratories’ Annular Core Research Reactor, and nuclear safety analyst for the DOE Waste Treatment and Immobilization Project.
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Mark Bollinger, Manager, Carlsbad Field Office, DOE Office of Environmental Management
Mark Bollinger is the Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management’s (EM) Manager of the Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO).
Prior to his selection as Manager in May 2023, Bollinger served as the CBFO Acting Manager since January 2023, and Deputy Manager from 2021 until 2023. From 2007 until 2021, Bollinger was the Deputy Manager for DOE Office of Science’s Fermi Site Office.
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Christine King, Director, Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN)
Christine King is the new director of the Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) initiative. She most recently served as the operations director for an emerging venture capital firm focused on bringing private capital into the developing advanced nuclear sector to help speed these disruptive technologies to market. Her knowledge and experience includes leading a nuclear division for a consulting firm, working in long term R&D with EPRI, and working nuclear plant outages focused on steam generator reliability. Her unique experience is a valuable asset as we assist advanced nuclear entrepreneurs in being able to compete within the broader energy and capital markets. The GAIN initiative is a well-known, respected cornerstone of the advance reactor community; Christine's passion for tackling obstacles fits perfectly with their prior success.
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Kara Colton, Director of Nuclear Policy, ECA
Ms. Colton is the Director of Nuclear Energy Policy at the Energy Communities Alliance (ECA), the national non-profit organization of local governments impacted by DOE activities. She oversees activities on nuclear energy issues including high-level waste management, interim storage, siting, and workforce development. She is also the co-author of "A Community Handbook on Nuclear Energy: Understanding Nuclear Energy and Alternatives for the Future", helping local communities understand issues associated with developing and hosting nuclear facilities. Prior to joining ECA, Colton worked at the National Governors Association, assisting Governors’ designees on the responsible cleanup of federal nuclear facilities.
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Rod Baltzer, Chief Operating Officer, Deep Isolation
Rodney (Rod) Baltzer is the Chief Operating Officer of Deep Isolation. Deep Isolation (www.deepisolation.com) is a private company focused on the disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste using directional drilling to safely secure waste deep underground. Rod is responsible for the areas of the company that include waste management operations, as well as interactions with communities, utilities and government entities. Rod has over 20 years of experience in leadership positions in the nuclear waste industry. He received a BS in Agricultural Economics and Accounting from Oklahoma State University and is a Certified Public Accountant.
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Stefan Mayer, Team Leader, Radioactive Waste Disposal, IAEA Mayor
Stefan Mayer is team leader for radioactive waste disposal in the Nuclear Energy Department of the IAEA. He has over 20 years professional experience with radioactive waste disposal and his current responsibilities are focused on responding to IAEA Member States’ requests for information, cooperation, and support towards implementing needed disposal solutions. Prior to joining the IAEA, Mr Mayer was employed by the French national RWMO, Andra, and by the Technical Support Organization to the US NRC, the Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analysis (CNWRA).
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Mayor Bill Thek, Kemmerer, Wyoming
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Brian Muir, City Administrator, Kemmerer, Wyoming
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Natalia Saraeva, Lead, Community & Stakeholder Engagement, Office of Nuclear Energy, US DOE
Natalia Saraeva is a Team Lead for Consent-Based Siting in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Nuclear Energy (NE). Prior to DOE, she was an Advisor with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and was on detail to the DOE’s Office of Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition and served as a senior advisor to the Deputy Assistant Secretary. Her over 15 years of experience includes working at National Labs (PNNL and Argonne) and supporting DOE-NE and National Nuclear Security Administration programs, staffer for the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future, a fellow with the U.S. Nuclear Industry Council, and other. She received her M.S. degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown
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Julia Sweatman, Policy Analyst, Good Energy Collective
Julia Sweatman is a Policy Analyst at Good Energy Collective, where she performs research and policy analysis at the intersection of advanced nuclear energy and environmental justice. Julia focuses on advancing the consent-based siting of domestic nuclear waste. In her work, she engages with interested communities around a consent-based process that would enable the successful and equitable siting of a potential future spent nuclear fuel facility.
Julia recently completed her master of environmental management at the Yale School of the Environment, specializing in climate and clean energy. She also focused on air quality and environmental health in her Master of Public Health program at the Yale School of Public Health. At Yale, Julia supported research on carbon pricing and its health co-benefits, looked at equitable natural climate solutions in U.S. cities, and supported various delegations on international policy at COP26 and COP27.
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Faith Sanchez, Program Manager, ECA
Faith Sanchez serves as the Program Director of the Energy Communities Alliance (ECA), the national non-profit organization of elected local government officials adjacent to defense nuclear facilities. Prior to joining ECA, Sanchez graduated from Case Western Reserve University where she received her M.A. and B.A. in 2023.
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Gerben Dijksterhuis, President, GMF Europe, Mayor of Borsele, Netherlands
Mr Gerben Dijksterhuis has been Mayor of the Municipality of Borsele in Zeeland since 2017. The municipality has 23,000 residents and is known for being both the Netherland’s largest fruit-growing municipality as well as being an energy municipality. Large solar power plants, on- and offshore wind farms and the Netherland’s only nuclear power plant, make Borsele the electricity hub of the Netherlands. The municipality is typified by its combination of tranquility and space and industry and activity. Gerben Dijksterhuis is also President of the Group of European Municipalities with Nuclear Facilities in Europe (GMF Europe). GMF Europe is an association established in the year 2000 consisting of local elected representatives from 16 European countries hosting or interested to host different types of nuclear facilities.
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Mark Nutt, Nuclear Energy Sector Manager, Energy and Environment Directorate, PNNL
Dr. Mark Nutt joined PNNL in September 2018 as manager of the Nuclear Energy sector, overseeing programmatic support of the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE), the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and commercial and international clients.
Dr. Nutt also serves as the U.S. representative and is the chairman of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Technical Working Group for Fuel Cycle Options and Spent Fuel Management. He previously served as the national technical director (NTD) of the Integrated Waste Management program in DOE-NE’s Office of Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition Program and was responsible for planning, coordinating, integrating, and managing a team comprised of national laboratories and contractors to support the DOE’s efforts to implement an integrated waste management system for spent nuclear fuel and high-level nuclear waste.
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Celina (CeCe) Horbat, Community Engagement Specialist, Office of Community Engagement, U.S.DOE
Celina (CeCe) Horbat is a Community Engagement Specialist for the Western States and U.S. Territories for the Office of Community Engagement (OCE). Before joining OCE, CeCe facilitated and managed programs focusing on environmental equity issues and collaborative processes to support environmental justice focused projects at the local, state, and federal level. CeCe’s background includes experience with diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives as well as alternative dispute resolution. CeCe earned a Master of Science degree at the School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) from the University of Michigan.
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Randy Hemann, City Manager, City of Oak Ridge, TN
Randy Hemann has been the City Manager in Oak Ridge since November 1, 2023. He brings 10 years of city management experience with him. Randy has enjoyed becoming immersed in the Manhattan Project heritage of Oak Ridge as well as the many new nuclear projects in Oak Ridge.
Previously, he was Town Manager of Mooresville for 4 years. During his time there, he helped the community grow and invest in services including a new police headquarters, fire station, a park, library branch, and the largest skatepark in the southeast.
Hemann helped construct a $36 million baseball stadium that spurred downtown growth in High Point, NC, where he was Assistant Manager for four years. He also helped streamline the building inspections process and increased community code enforcement.
He served as City Manager in Oxford, North Carolina for two years following a 27-year career in the field of downtown development in Salisbury, Kinston and Benson, North Carolina.
Randy is a native of Huntington, West Virginia. He was awarded a BA in Political Science at Marshall University and holds a Master of Public Administration degree at East Carolina University.