Zerkle new principal deputy for administration

Carolyn Zerkle is the new principal deputy associate director to Richard Marquez, associate director for Administration (ADA). The directorate includes the Laboratory's business and financial management, human resources, information management and communications functions.

Zerkle has more than 10 years at the Lab, most recently as an acting deputy associate director in the Operations directorate (ADO). Over the past four years she continued to accept increasingly challenging roles and was responsible for a $500 million annual budget associated with the Infrastructure, Facilities and Construction Office in ADO, moving from deputy program director to her current position.

"I'm really looking forward to bringing my project- and program-management skills to my new position," said Zerkle. "I see a number of areas in which risk-based prioritization could be of assistance to the directorate. It is important as we move forward, we do everything we can to demonstrate control over our budgets and spending as it relates to the Lab's overall mission."

Before joining the Laboratory, Zerkle was an assistant director of campus planning at Illinois State University and a principal investigator with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. She has a master's degree in architecture and a master's degree in business administration from the University of Illinois. She also has an undergraduate degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

"We're very pleased to welcome Carolyn aboard," said Marquez. "Her experience both within and outside of the Laboratory made her an outstanding candidate for the position. Her operations background should also help provide a complement within the Administration directorate helping us to make the Laboratory more competitive from an effectiveness and efficiency standpoint."

Zerkle is a mentor in the Lab's mentoring program and also received a Distinguished Performance Award in 1997. Last year, she received the Department of Energy's Deputy Secretary of Energy Excellence in Acquisition Award for her work with the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Building Updates Project.

-- Kevin N. Roark

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