Business Operations Division restructured

Contact: Linn Tytler, ltytler@lanl.gov, (505) 667-7000 (03-013)

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LOS ALAMOS, N.M., Jan. 24, 2003 -- Los Alamos National Laboratory Associate Director for Administration Richard A. Marquez and University of California Vice President for Financial Management Anne Broome today announced the immediate restructure of the Laboratory’s Business Operations Division.

“The University of California is soliciting consulting expertise from private sector firms to initiate an independent evaluation of the Laboratory’s key financial processes to determine business and control effectiveness,” Marquez said. “However, we believe an immediate interim restructuring is required while we await the final results of that evaluation.”

Marquez said that the entire Laboratory is undertaking a focused effort to ensure Lab-wide improvement in its business processes; the interim restructure will support that effort while longer-term recommendations are developed.

“During the next four months, we will make assignments that make sense given the current urgency of corrective action,” Marquez continued. “Permanent organizational assignments will not result until the independent evaluation is complete. When made, those assignments will be coordinated closely between the Laboratory and the University of California.”

Marquez and Broome announced the following immediate personnel changes and structural realignment:

• Jim Lopez, principal deputy associate director for administration and human resources and former controller at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, who became acting deputy associate director for administration at Los Alamos on Jan. 20, will serve as the acting business services division leader and chief financial officer.
  
• Jay Johnson, formerly chief of staff to the Laboratory’s associate director for operations, will continue in the controller role to which he was recently appointed. He has day-to-day responsibility for integration of the Laboratory’s business processes as well as for the division’s internal controls project. Johnson will also serve as the Laboratory’s action officer for all UC or external audit action items pertinent to business and financial management. In addition, the Distributed Finance group will report to Johnson, as will the division’s administrative staff.
• Tom Palmieri, who was formerly the Business Operations Division’s leader and chief financial officer, will lead the budgeting process. Palmieri will remain the Laboratory’s point of contact for budget matters. Palmieri and the Program Integration Office will ensure that institutional budget requirements receive priority attention, including support to the recently created Program Integration Board.
• Dennis Roybal, formerly deputy division leader, will become a special assistant to the associate director for administration.
• Accounting and Systems Management will report to Jim Herring; the Standard General Ledger Project also will report to Herring. Herring formerly served as deputy division leader.
• Chuck McDonald, manager of procurement and property in the University of California’s Laboratory Administration office, will lead Procurement Processes on an acting basis. Procurement, the Proccurement Quality Office and the Small Business Office will report to McDonald. In addition, Sue Sebring, who has been working in the division office on procurement quality, will lead a re-created Purchase Card Office, and will report to McDonald. “In view of the many corrective actions still needed to respond to the Layton report, the pending UC audit, and the need to continue reconciliation and training,” Marquez said, “I felt it was imperative to begin with a newly constituted team in this key area.”
• Allen Wallace will continue to lead the Property Management office.
• Shipping and Receiving will continue to report to Carol Smith.
• Mary Erwin, previously division chief of staff, will serve as special assistant for business and financial systems, reporting to Jim Lopez and Anne Broome.

In an earlier announcement, Marquez said the Audits and Assessments division, formerly within Business Operations, would no longer report within the Laboratory structure. Instead, it reports directly to UC auditor Patrick Reed. That unit also has added the fraud, waste and abuse processes formerly found in the Security Division’s Office of Security Inquiries.

In all instances, management personnel changes and any resultant impact to salaries will be evaluated in accordance with University of California policy and the procedures outlined in a recent letter from Robert L. Van Ness, Assistant Vice President for Laboratory Administration at UC to Ralph Erickson, Director of the Department of Energy’s Office of Los Alamos Site Operations on Jan. 16.

Marquez and Broome also announced creation of a Business Processes, Procedures and Practices Council. Council members come from across the Laboratory’s technical and administrative divisions and will provide immediate advice regarding the impact of proposed changes to Laboratory financial management and business operations processes.

Los Alamos National Laboratory is operated by the University of California for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) of the U.S. Department of Energy and works in partnership with NNSA's Sandia and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories to support NNSA in its mission.

Los Alamos enhances global security by ensuring the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, developing technologies to reduce threats from weapons of mass destruction, and solving problems related to energy, environment, infrastructure, health and national security concerns.