DOE-EM Announces Upcoming Leadership Changes

Source: ECA Staff | March 7, 2022

DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (DOE-EM) has announced upcoming leadership changes in the DOE headquarters organization.

Todd Shrader will be moving to the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) as the Deputy Director for Project Management. DOE established OCED to deliver more than $20 billion provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to support large-scale clean energy demonstration projects. Shrader is expected to begin his new assignment in April.

In this role, Shrader will be responsible for providing project management oversight for clean energy demonstration projects to ensure investments accelerate deployment, market adoption, and the equitable transition to a decarbonized energy system. Centralized project management oversight is a cornerstone of OCED, and in his role Shrader will also help create a center of excellence for the management of demonstration projects throughout the DOE.

Shrader has served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary (PDAS) for EM since 2019. Prior to becoming the PDAS, he served as the Carlsbad Field Office Manager. Under his leadership, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) successfully restarted waste emplacement operations and the shipping of waste from around the DOE complex to WIPP after a three-year recovery effort.

Shrader previously led the headquarters office supporting Hanford’s Office of River Protection and held a leading role in developing the path forward for accelerated tank waste treatment. Prior to that, he was with the Loan Programs Office, where he led technical reviews of over twenty energy projects that eventually received over $13 billion in loan guarantees. Earlier, he was a project manager for the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, leading key components of the NRC licensing process.

Upon Shrader’s departure, Candice Robertson will become the acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for EM.  In this role, she will enable the safe and successful execution of the EM cleanup mission, while providing management oversight of activities, operations, and program integration across EM field sites.

Robertson is currently a Senior Advisor to Secretary Granholm and Deputy Secretary Turk.

Robertson has nearly 20 years of experience managing critical business functions in both the public and private sectors and is knowledgeable about all aspects of EM’s mission and operations. She has served as the DOE Chief Human Capital Officer, a senior advisor to three Deputy Secretaries, the acting EM Associate Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary (APDAS) for Field Operations, the EM APDAS for Corporate Services, and the EM Chief of Staff. Robertson’s experience and the background will ensure a seamless transition and enable EM to continue progress across EM programs and sites.