Lab director names Reva Nickelson to lead Operations and Business Directorate at LLNL

Reva Nickelson has been named the principal associate director for Operations and Business at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Director Bill Goldstein announced. Nickelson will assume her new role on April 16.

Nickelson, who serves as Facilities Division director at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, was chosen for this key senior leadership position at Livermore, following a broad national search. As the principal associate director for Operations & Business, Nickelson will lead the multidisciplinary 1,200-person organization that includes property management, procurement, technical information, human resources, project management and construction, project controls, design engineering, infrastructure and facility management, business management, maintenance management, emergency preparedness, environmental restoration, sustainable energy management and nuclear operations.

She will serve as a key contact for the Laboratory on operational matters and will represent the Laboratory externally to the Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board and peer organizations and laboratories in the DOE complex in infrastructure, procurement and operations-related issues, as well as private industry and the local community.

"Reva has successful, proven broad experience in leading organizations in support of programmatic mission enablement, while balancing operational requirements with scientific and research needs," Goldstein said.

Nickelson joins the Laboratory following senior leadership tenure at both Idaho National Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. At Idaho (1990-2014), she rose to the position of deputy director for Facilities and Site Services. She has held the position of Facilities Division director at Lawrence Berkeley since 2014, leading the operational support organizations and developing a 10-year strategic infrastructure vision. She has earned numerous national honors and awards, is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and holds multiple U.S. patents. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Idaho.

"I look forward to working with Reva as a member of the Laboratory’s Senior Management Team," Goldstein said. "Her knowledge and national laboratory operational experiences are well aligned with the Laboratory’s strategic vision. Her leadership strengths and personal insights will help to ensure that the Laboratory continues to achieve operational excellence and enable the delivery of innovative science and technology to meet emergent national security challenges."

In making his announcement, Goldstein thanked Anita Gursahani for serving as the acting principal associate director following Principal Associate Director Mark Martinez’s retirement from the Laboratory in July 2017. "Since that time, Anita has continued to move the O&B organization forward by improving processes to support our infrastructure construction portfolio growth, working to modernize our maintenance management system, and enhancing our hiring and onboarding processes, amongst other things. I appreciate her efforts and the Laboratory community’s support in the transition in leadership over the next several months."