Jessica Kunkle is the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) newest acting associate administrator for the Office of Infrastructure, a spokesperson for the agency told Exchange Monitor Thursday.
Kunkle will be taking over for Nicole Nelson-Jean, who as of March principal associate administrator of NNSA’s Office of Environment, Safety and Health.
The Office of Infrastructure is responsible for ensuring the agency and nuclear security enterprise has the facilities needed to carry out day to day operations and broader missions, and also oversees major construction and modernization projects at these facilities. Kunkle’s role in leading the office will be to set the objectives and policy to keep each facility on course.
According to Kunkle’s LinkedIn profile, she was the manager of the DOE Environmental Management Los Alamos Field Office for just under 2 years prior to her current role. She also has experience at DOE as the deputy associate administrator for Infrastructure Lifecycle Management, acting manager of NNSA’s Savannah River Field Office, and with some work at the NNSA Program Executive Office and the Office of Global Threat Reduction.
As for the post Kunkle is vacating, it is filled by Stanley “Stan” Pyram. He is acting manager of the Environmental Management Los Alamos Field Office. Pyram has more than 20 years of experience working in and around facilities for the Department of the Army, as well as DOE Environmental Management and NNSA. Pyram, who has also worked as an engineer with Kiewit, is also a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army Reserve.