Waste Management Symposia (WMS) said Wednesday it has selected industry veteran Susan Walter as managing director, in charge of planning the nonprofit organization’s annual conference in Phoenix.
Walter’s appointment takes effect immediately, according to a press release. She succeeds Jan Carlin, -who stepped down in May after more than two-and-a-half years in the position.
“We are delighted to have a Managing Director with the talents, experience, and drive that Susan possesses,” WMS Chairman Jim Gallagher said in the release. “Also, I want to thank Bob Weiler who has served very well as the interim Managing Director since May.”
Walter worked for nearly 22 years at AECOM in various roles, including principal scientist and Department of Energy account leader.
She founded Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based Abel Key Solutions in 2017, according to her LinkedIn profile. As CEO, Walter “provides business management, business development and proposal services to clients seeking to do business with the federal government – with a primary focus on the nuclear industries (DOE, NNSA, Office of Science).”
From 2018 to this year, Walter was also deputy chair for the Waste Management Symposia Program Advisory Committee, supporting development of the technical program for the conference.
Every March, the event attracts over 2,000 participants from around the world for expert discussions of radioactive waste management and related topics, including cleanup of U.S. defense nuclear sites. Attendance in 2020 dropped by about 10%, to roughly 2,100, as novel coronavirus 2019 spread across the nation. The conference was one of the last large-scale events held most anywhere during the pandemic.
