As she closes out her third full month at the helm of the Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup office, Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management Anne Marie White might not be finished putting together her leadership team.
Bechtel Project Manager Mark Frei is said to be in consideration for a top Environmental Management post, possibly even the principal deputy assistant secretary (EM-2) position, currently held by James Owendoff, two industry sources told Weapons Complex Morning Briefing.
One source indicated Frei had actually been interviewed. Contacted by telephone, Frei declined to discuss whether he had been interviewed for a leadership post at Environmental Management.
Frei is a veteran within the Energy Department cleanup complex, having worked at DOE and its predecessor agencies between 1974 and 2008 in posts such as acting manager of the Idaho Operations Office, acting deputy assistant secretary for waste management, and deputy assistant secretary for planning and budget, according to an online search. Between 2008 and 2015 he was a consultant for contractor Longenecker & Associates. Since joining Bechtel in 2015, he has been project operations manager at the Waste Treatment Plant project at the Hanford Site in Washington state, and has been a senior adviser to James Taylor, general manager of Bechtel National’s Environmental business line.
There have already been changes made since White became EM-1.
Angela Watmore was listed as an acting chief of staff and senior adviser within DOE’s nuclear cleanup branch in a June 1 organizational chart. The slot was described as “vacant” in an April 19 version of the same chart. In late May, White said veteran DOE hand Ken Picha would take over as acting EM associate principal deputy assistant secretary for field operations. The job was previously held on an acting basis by Dae Chung, who resumed his post as head of the EM special projects office.