Los Alamos announces selection of chief financial officer

Contact: John Gustafson, pogo@lanl.gov, (505) 665-9197

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LOS ALAMOS, N.M., Aug. 10, 2001 -- The Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory today announced that Dr. Thomas Palmieri has been selected as the Laboratory’s chief financial officer and director of the Business Operations Division.

Palmieri is currently deputy chief financial officer at DOE, a $19 billion agency that administers programs in defense and national security, basic science and research, energy supply and demand, and environmental protection and cleanup. As deputy CFO, Palmieri's responsibilities include managing the groups that prepare and execute DOE’s budget, provide liaison with appropriations committees and provide the full range of accounting activities for DOE. In addition, he oversees new initiatives in project management and infrastructure and is the lead person for implementing new government performance criteria throughout DOE.

"Tom will play a key role in strengthening the Laboratory’s approach to integrated management and helping us align responsibility and accountability for meeting our mission requirements," said Laboratory Director John Browne. "He brings a unique and exceptional set of skills and experience to Los Alamos: intimate knowledge of federal executive and legislative budget processes, a technical background in physics, and a superior network of contacts throughout the federal establishment and the DOE community.

"I fully expect Tom’s contributions to significantly advance our efforts to establish a systematic approach to planning, budgeting and evaluation of programs, and to implement best business practices and systems across the Laboratory," Browne said.

Palmieri’s responsibilities will include managing the 650-person Business Operations Division, reengineering business practices to support new management information systems, establishing a formal program planning, budgeting, and evaluation system, administering Los Alamos’ $1.4 billion annual budget, and strengthening the Laboratory’s acquisition and contracting operations.

"I look forward to joining Director Browne and his team and to helping Los Alamos fulfill its important national security mission," Palmieri said. "I have first-hand experience with the Administration's strong emphasis on performance, management and financial accountability. I believe I can make a significant contribution at Los Alamos helping the director to better integrate programmatic and support activities, and I hope to continue the ongoing effort to sharpen the customer focus of the Business Operations Division."

Browne noted that planning and budgeting, financial control and reporting, and procurement and contracting have all become increasingly complex in recent years. In addition, resource constraints make the job of meeting program requirements while maintaining compliance with regulatory requirements ever more challenging. "Tom has exceptional skills and experience for helping the Laboratory respond to these challenges," said Browne.

Palmieri spent 14 years at OMB, where he was responsible for program review and spending oversight for DOE's defense, science, nuclear energy and environmental programs. His responsibilities also included review and approval of legislative proposals, requests to Congress for reprogrammings and budget amendments and review and analysis of major policy proposals and initiatives.

He has worked for the Senate Finance Committee, providing technical advice on energy issues during debate on the original National Energy Acts, and for the Senate Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management.

Palmieri earned a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Wisconsin in 1969 and was a research physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory where he supported the nuclear weapons testing program and did research in high energy astrophysics.

At Sandia, he worked on developing technical collaborations with other agencies, industry and Russian laboratories. In addition, he worked on organizational issues concerning DOE's approach to work for others and the application of DOE regulations within the laboratory.

Los Alamos National Laboratory is operated by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.

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