A day late and a dollar short, as usual.
-Anonymous
To/MS: Master Management
From/MS: Michael R. Anastasio, A100
Phone/Fax: 7-5101/7-2997
Symbol: DIR-08-142
Date: June 6, 2008
SUBJECT: Organizational Changes and Personnel Assignments
At a recent senior leadership meeting I announced several organizational changes and personnel assignments. These changes further my objective of aligning our organization and management team with a strategic direction that enables the Laboratory to successfully address future challenges and opportunities. This includes the need to be more efficient and effective in providing infrastructure and project management support that enables science and mission delivery.
Asa Kelley, Associate Director for Project Management (PM), has accepted a new Bechtel assignment in Tennessee. Tom McKinney, a Bechtel Principal Vice President with strong management experience, has been selected to replace Asa effective June 9, 2008. Tom's most recent assignment was as Deputy General Manager of Bechtel SAIC Company, LLC, for the design and licensing of the Yucca Mountain Project. Tom holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering and a Masters in Nuclear Engineering. With the projected volume of construction activity at the Laboratory and the varied and complex project management portfolio, this position is critical to the Laboratory's future and the shaping of a modern infrastructure. I greatly appreciate Asa's contributions to setting a solid baseline and correct path for project management improvement and wish him continued success in his career.
In addition, I have decided to reorganize functions that currently reside in the Infrastructure and Site Services (ISS) Directorate. The Emergency Operations Division will be transferred into the Safeguards and Security Directorate, the Facility Management and Operations functions will transfer to the Nuclear and High Hazard Operations Directorate along with the fire protection engineering functions, and the balance of the ISS functions, including maintenance and infrastructure planning, will be transferred to the Project Management Directorate. Jerry Ethridge, currently Associate Director for ISS, will be reassigned to the Weapons Physics Directorate. Jerry has been instrumental in facility management improvements over the past two years, including the assumption of work planning functions from KSL and the Footprint Reduction initiative, and I look forward to his continued contributions to the success of the Laboratory.
We recently announced the in-sourcing of the balance of KSL activities. Jay Johnson, Acting Deputy Associate Director for Project Management, has been assigned to lead the transition and will report to Mike Mallory, Principal Associate Director for Operations. John Bretkze, who has been on temporary assignment to manage operations for the Environmental Programs Directorate, will be reassigned as Deputy Associate Director for Project Management. Jay and John bring a wealth of Laboratory management experience to these two key assignments and they will no doubt continue their track record of success.
Bruce Schappell and Mark Schmitz have joined our management team. Bruce was most recently assigned to Bechtel Savannah River, and will support Sue Stiger, Associate Director for Environmental Programs, as Operations Deputy. Bruce brings twenty-eight years of project management and environmental program experience and will provide valuable expertise in support of our day-to-day environmental clean up activities. Bruce holds a Bachelor of Science as well as a Masters of Engineering.
Mark Schmitz will be supporting Bob McQuinn as the Deputy Associate Director for Nuclear and High Hazard Operations. Mark has twenty-seven years Department of Energy nuclear facilities and twenty-one years multifunctional management of complex nuclear facilities, including tritium, uranium, plutonium, and spent fuel processing facilities experience. Mark is well respected within the DOE Complex nuclear facilities and operations community and will be an excellent addition to the team.
Finally, David McCumber has expressed a desire to resume his legal career. As such he will transfer to the Laboratory's Office of Chief Counsel and will relinquish his position as Division Leader of Communications and Government Affairs. This change will be effective as soon as we are able to fill this critical vacancy for which we are currently conducting a national search. David has served in this position since 2004. He has done a commendable job serving an institution that has undergone continued change during that period.
Thank you for supporting these changes. Our goal is continuous improvement and these changes will further advance the strategic goals of the Laboratory.
32 comments:
"Tom McKinney, a Bechtel Principal Vice President with strong management experience, has been selected to replace Asa effective June 9, 2008. Tom's most recent assignment was as Deputy General Manager of Bechtel SAIC Company, LLC, for the design and licensing of the Yucca Mountain Project."
Bechtel was removed from managing science at Yucca Mountain in 2006 (see article below). Why is DOE allowing them to continue to ruin science at Los Alamos?
Jan. 18, 2006 - Sandia National Laboratories has been chosen as the lead federal lab to coordinate science work on the $58 billion Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada, the U.S. Department of Energy said Wednesday.
Sandia has done work on the planned repository for 20 years, lab spokesman Michael Padilla said. The DOE's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, OCRWM, made the selection announcement.
Project contractor Bechtel SAIC Co. currently oversees the work. Bechtel will continue to be responsible for above-ground design efforts, the agency said in a news release.
Please note that the jackass sent this to managers - the common workers have to read the blog to find out what is going on. (BTW - thanks Pinky!! We'd be lost without you). Soon I expect to read about what my salary and position will be from the blog and not my "management".
What do I see in this memo?
Bechtel, Bechtel, Bechtel... construction, construction, project management for construction... more Bechtel, Bechtel, Bechtel... enviromental cleanup, construction, plutonium... Bechtel.
Mike sneaks it out on a Friday afternoon, of course. Hints of the future for LANL are contained in this memo. Not a peep about science or research. Nothing, nada, ziltch!
Bechtel, construction, plutonium, and cleanup. That's about it, folks.
What about Doris Heim? We had heard that she was leaving but we guess she can't find employment anywhere else. Heard that she (inept) and Chalmers (inept squared)had shoved a new procurement person with zero experience as a "favor" to the head of HR, another Bechtelie. And taking care of their own own goes on, and on, and on. Screw the HR rules when you are the queen of HR. Isn't anyone, like the IG, Congress, or DOE, listening to the level of waste, fraud and abuse of hiring employees with zero qualifications? Nor paying attention to the huge salaries of the Bechtelies compared to the rest of us? LANS motto "LET THEM EAT CAKE"
It is interesting to note that none of these positions were advertised.
In fact, very few positions are advertised these days.
I believe that this makes us a NO-OPPORTUNITY employer.
I'd be curious to know how many of the SSM positions that were recently reclassified into the "new" system are being appealed. The management idiots didn't allow for any discussion beforehand so managers simply assigned job titles and wage bands, based on? I wonder how many will have to be redone so as to reflect uh... actual job duties? Such a concept.
"Nor paying attention to the huge salaries of the Bechtelies compared to the rest of us?" - 12:08 PM
Go look at the max salaries for various positions that HR has just posted on the HR LANL web site.
You'll see big salaries listed for positions involved in construction management, construction procurement, construction engineering and security management. In fact, the listed salaries are considerable higher than those listed for most of the "science" flavored positions like software engineer or a high level applications programmer.
Phase 2 of the HR salary exercise should be very interesting. I would suggest the research staff pay very close attention to what HR is doing.
You might think the Bechtelites at LANL want it this way. You betcha they do! They plan to milk this place completely dry and then move on to the next host within the NNSA complex.
No, it makes us on par with corporations all over the world. Executive level positions are often handled this way.
I know times are tough, but if you're a scientist at LANL, then consider trying to get out if you can. Almost all the TSMs I know are at least looking at outside positions. They realize it's not going to get any better. It's going to be an especially harsh environment for those trying to do research work.
You should know that Bechtel is following a well worn plan for "managing" their latest asset in the NNSA complex. Just like with NTS, tell f*ck things up and then leave for other lucrative contracts at other facilities.
God help us! Bringing Bechtel on board to the LLC was an extremely bad decision! I wonder what Bechtel plans on doing after Congress takes the axe to the big construction efforts involved with NNSA's Complex Transformation plans?
this plan seems like the one RECHTEL rolled out against us at LLNL, I would look for hole divisions, groups, and key personal to disappear or be placed in some abstract group. and probly around oct 1 your management will summit a layoff list to doe to cut the work force by X-mas.
sense oct 1 2007 LLNL has caned 1800 people under the RECHTEL management team
6:09 PM- shut up AD.
I think McQuinn's Deputy AD position was advertised but nonetheless, we see a pattern here.
So folks,if you want to follow the money train, you need to go into facilities, project management or construction.
2:35 pm: "It is interesting to note that none of these positions were advertised."
It's not interesting at all, or even unusual. Better get used to the corporate world. There is no requirement to advertise positions for which they've already identified a replacement or new hire. Why should they advertise? It just slows down what they're going to do anyway. All you ex-UC folks better change your attitudes, or 1) they will be changed for you, or 2) you will be gone, which is by far your better choice. You don't work for a university anymore, Toto.
2:35 pm: "It is interesting to note that none of these positions were advertised."
I wonder if these new upper managers at least passed the on-ramp program, diamond stamped by the Pantex folks and implemented in ADSMS by Mr Mallory.
"All you ex-UC folks better change your attitudes, or 1) they will be changed for you, or 2) you will be gone, which is by far your better choice. You don't work for a university anymore, Toto." (8:20 PM)
Let me guess. By the sound of your threats, you're possible one of the new hires at LANL who work for the benefit of Bechtel?
No, we don't work for a university any longer. Instead, we work for a sleazy, shit-bag corporation called Bechtel. More and more, it appears that LANS is just a front company to help hide the people who pull the important strings.
Anonymous at 6/8/08 10:04 PM writes:
"No, we don't work for a university any longer. Instead, we work for a sleazy, shit-bag corporation called Bechtel."
How unforetunately true. It is incredible how much irreversible damage has been done by DOE, Congress, and LANS. I cannot imagine that any top-level scientist, engineer, or techician would want to work there.
If NNSA did not want LANL to be converted to a construction site and pit site, Bechtel would not have been given the contract to do these conversions.
Bechtel is only doing the bidding of NNSA.
You might want to put the blame where it belongs, not on "the evil greedy corporation" but on the government organization that hired them to be this way.
What upsets us in procurement is that Rechtel brings in all these old folks, no offense to older employees, but I see older LANL employees who are really smart and very productive, like our scientists, and there are these old folks from Rechtel, who literally sit and doze off all day, cannot communicate, perform each task so s - l - o - w, and then the managers (duh) wonder why processes haven't been finalized. As I said, no offense to productive, energized older employees, but these Rechtel employees were probably never sharp in their younger days but now, what gives? I understand that these old folks are wanting to get their retiree medical benefits and Rechtel just wants to find a contract to charge off the overhead for these older employees. Boy, they sure found a good loophole in the contract and DOE just looks the other way. What a waste of an FTE. And I bet DOE funded the move of these older employees to sit and do nothing old, I mean, all day.
When reading the blog I am glad, glad, glad, that I am no longer working for this company. I almost stopped asking my former colleagues about LANL because I am only hearing bad news - especially with respect to the ongoing reconstruction of divisions to oblivion (e.g. T-division). And as packed full the place was some time ago, now many offices are empty for quite a while (so I was told). Thus people are leaving if they have not already left.
SSPed
"This includes the need to be more efficient and effective in providing infrastructure and project management support that enables science and mission delivery." - Mike
That's a good one, Mike. Enabling science? Efficiency? Providing better project management support? You had me ROTFL with that part of the memo.
C'mon. Everyone knows that folks from SRS and/or Bechtel are the best things since sliced bread. Just ask them.
In the SSM series, all this did was adjust salary bands so that lower-paid employees are now above midpoint, ensuring no more "salary management" for them to "catch up" with their peers, and put higher-paid employees well above midpoint or near the top of the salary band, reducing their potential raises as well. Brilliant! Doris Heim may well be smarter than we give her credit for.
Bechtel came in, looked at LANL employees, and said "these people shouldn't be paid this much for doing this work" based on their experience elsewhere in the US workforce. Advanced degrees and unique capabilities be damned. So, they set out to fix it. And they have. End of story.
"Bechtel came in, looked at LANL employees, and said "these people shouldn't be paid this much for doing this work" based on their experience elsewhere in the US workforce." (9:51 PM)
Yeah, but take a look at the salaries that LANL HR has listed for construction type positions (i.e., for the incoming Bechtelites).
Many of these construction flavored positions have salaries that are well over the $100K mark. This for someone with a common BS degree from Po-Dunk University and for positions that are in high supply now that the US construction boom has gone bust.
It's clear what LANS values going forward. Or, to be more exact, it's clear what our true manager, Bechtel, favors going forward.
Brilliant! Doris Heim may well be smarter than we give her credit for.
6/9/08 9:39 PM
Yeah, right, the same Doris Heim who protects Chalmers and his crew of misfits. Under UC, procurement had an business education requirement. Under LANS, a former school teacher became head of procurement. She and Chalmers forced out over 50 procurement employees, many with high levels of education and experience (hmm, insecurity showing), she is now headed to run the construction project at CMMR. Doris finally stopped doing the exit interviews with the departint employees because she kept hearing the same result. And then she and Chalmers promote the former teacher - Yeah Peter Principle. BTW, has anyone seen Chalmers? He is MIA in our building.
What happened to Mike's All-Hands which was suppose to take place in early June?
Did he get cold feet again? Is LANS trying to hold back some emerging bad news? Or perhaps LANS figures that by now, most of the staff just don't give a sh*t anymore.
"God help us! Bringing Bechtel on board to the LLC was an extremely bad decision!"
6/8/08 6:17 PM
You can thank UC for that. UC cares about you? Think again.
8:30, once the mgt of an organization loses credibility with a significant number of its employees, your last sentence naturally follows.
3:17 pm: I am one who took TCP-2 and retired from UC. Since then, UC has taken VERY good care of me as a retiree. I get lots of good information and advice that LANS couldn't be bothered to provide someone who isn't THEIR retiree. All I get from LANS is their salary (and 401k match and bonus), which is ok since it is high. I just wonder how Bechtel retirees are treated. UC's generous pension will make me very comfortable for the rest of my life. UC isn't going anywhere, unlike LANS at the next contract competition, or sooner. How much better can it get?
"How much better can it get?" - 6/10/08 8:28 PM
For the double-dippers who are still at LANL, life is good, is it not? Just don't appear to be gloating too much in front of your fellow LANL workers. They don't appreciate it.
Most LANL employees don't give a crap if you are receiving the pension you earned from UC while working for LANS. There is only 1 person who is consumed by jealousy over this issue, and he got shitcanned-- oops, I mean "retired"-- several years ago.
Still no sign of Mikey's All-Hands meeting. Perhaps the plan is to keep the workers in the dark all summer long? LANL's last All-Hands was after the SSP completed way back in January. Mike's been a "no-show" since that time.
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