Director Tom Hunter announces Sandia reorganization; appoints three deputy directors, two new vice presidents
Sandia’s new organizational structure, rolled out over the past 10 days at department-level meetings across the Labs, creates three deputy laboratory director positions, reduces by three the number of divisions (by consolidating centers along functional or mission-related lines), and has the MESA program office report directly to the laboratory director.
The restructuring represents an evolution of the existing structure more than a radical retooling.
As Labs Director Tom Hunter explained in a Lab News interview prior to the rollout, “In my talk to the managers and to the all-hands staff meeting [Lab News, May 27, soon after he became Laboratories Director], I talked about every step being a step forward. That’s what I hope we’ve done here. We’ve taken the foundation we’ve built with our current organizational structure and our SMU structure and we’ve tried to enhance it with this restructuring.”
Under the new structure, the three deputy directors are Joan Woodard, deputy for nuclear weapons; John Stichman, deputy for laboratory operations, program deployment, and implementation of common engineering practices; and Al Romig, deputy for integrated technology programs.
Integrated technology programs might be thought of as “everything else” not directly related to nuclear weapons — nonproliferation, military technologies, homeland security, and energy and infrastructure surety. Each deputy will head up an “affinity group,” made up of centers that share a common mission or operational focus.
“These affinity groups will be the way we consolidate roles across the laboratory,” Tom says.
Tom also announced the promotion of two Sandians to vice president, Rick Stulen and Steve Rottler.
The new organizational structure places a premium on consolidation. While divisions 9000, 14000, and 15000 go away, all their centersremain intact, but move to other divisions. In addition, several centers from remaining divisions also move to other divisions to better align with mission and functional requirements.
Thus, Science and Technology and Research Foundations Division 1000 picks up Center 6700 (Radiation Sciences), as well as Centers 9100 (Engineering Sciences), 9200 (Computation, Computers, and Math), and 9900 (Advanced Product Realization).
With the retirement of Pace VanDevender, the new VP for Science and Technology and Research Foundations Div. 1000 is Rick Stulen, currently the director of Homeland Security Systems and Development Center 8100.
With the promotion of VP John Stichman to Deputy Director, Weapons Engineering and Product Realization Division 2000 will be headedup by Steve Rottler, current director of NM Weapons System Engineering Center 2100. Steve’s division picks up the two 14000 centers, 14100 (manufacturing Science and technology) and 14400 (Neutron Generator Production). (Current Div. 14000 VP Lenny Martinez has joined the Lockheed Martin Los Alamos contract bid team.)
Jerry McDowell, current VP for DoD Programs Division 15000, becomes head of a combined division 15000 and 5000 (National Securityand Arms Control). The new division, to be called National Security Programs, also gets Electronics Systems Center 2300. Center movements
Other key changes: Centers 9300, 9500, and 9600, the Integrated Information Services centers that deal with aspects of computer security,networks, and information systems, move to Integrated Security Division 4000. (The aim is to consolidate cyber and physical security functions more closely). Business and Enabling Services Division 10000 picks up Corporate Business Development and Partnerships Center 1300 and ES&H Center 6300. Human Resources Division 3000 picks up Executive Staff Director Center 12100 and Public Relations and Communications Center 12600. Energy, Information, and Infrastructure Surety Division 6000 acquires Security Systems and Technology Center 4100 and Intelligent Systems and Robotics Center 15200. California Site Division 8000 remains unchanged, as do Divisions 11000 (Legal) and 16000 (Advanced Concepts group). Stockpile Surveillance Center 12300 and Ethics and Audits Center 12800 remain directly associated to the Lab Director’s Office, as do the Ombuds groups (in California and New Mexico), Corporate Investigations Dept. 20, and Counterintelligence.
One key — and intended — effect of the consolidation efforts is to create larger divisions. The newly consolidated technical line divisions(currently numbered 1000, 2000, 5000, 6000, and 8000) will average more than 1,100 employees each. In the old structure, eight technical line divisions (1000, 2000, 5000, 6000, 8000, 9000, 14000, and 15000) averaged just over 800 employees.