LEADERSHIP TEAM
LEADERSHIP
Johney Green Jr.
Laboratory Director
Johney Green Jr. serves as the director of Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL), and is president and CEO of Battelle Savannah River Alliance, LLC (BSRA). Green is responsible for the management, operation and strategic direction of the laboratory. SRNL is a multi-program national laboratory with an annual operating budget of about $400 million, and the lab is leading research and development institution for the Offices of Environmental Management and Legacy Management at the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Weapons and Nonproliferation programs for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). Green formerly served as the Associate Laboratory Director for Mechanical and Thermal Engineering Sciences at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, where he was responsible for research and development to enable technology innovations in energy efficiency, sustainable mobility and renewable power. Green created NREL’s Flatirons Campus, building a premier multi-program research campus. Green also spearheaded development of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research on Integrated Energy Systems. Prior to his 8-year tenure at NREL, Green held several leadership roles during a 21-year span at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) including Director of the Energy and Transportation Science division and Group leader for Fuels, Engines and Emissions Research. During his tenure ORNL developed the Additive Manufacturing Integrated Energy demonstration project, a model of innovative vehicle-to-grid integration technologies and next generation manufacturing processes. Green is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and an SAE International fellow. He serves on the Defense Science Board and several advisory boards including those at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Memphis. Green was the recipient of a National GEM Consortium Fellowship and previously served as chair of the board for the National GEM Consortium. He previously served on the advisory board at the University of Tennessee. Green holds two U.S. patents in combustion science and has an h-index of 34 with more than 4,540 citations. Green holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Memphis. He earned a master’s and doctorate in mechanical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Sharon Marra
Deputy Director, Operations
Sharon serves as the Deputy Director, Operations at Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL). In this role, she is responsible for executive leadership and daily management of the 1,000 employee, $350M multi-program National Laboratory. She leads SRNL in driving down safety and operational events and assuring the Laboratory’s role as one of the safest national laboratories in the DOE complex, and assuring cost effectiveness while conducting its critical missions in support of its customers and the nation. Sharon has more than 30 years of experience at Savannah River Site. Prior to her role as Deputy Director, she held various Director and Management-level roles in technical leadership in chemical and environmental processing and compliance. In these roles she oversaw the development and deployment of critical technologies to advance the Environmental Management and other DOE missions. She is a member and former Chair of the National Laboratory Chief Operations Officers (NLCOO) comprised of Deputies/COOs of each of the 17 National Laboratories that advises the National Laboratory Directors Council (NLDC). She serves on the Ames National Laboratory Operations Review Committee, advising on operational performance plans and recommending best practices. Additionally, she serves on University of South Carolina at Aiken’s Engineering Advisory Board, advising on the University’s new engineering program curriculum. She is actively involved in Aiken community outreach projects on behalf of SRNL, such as Science Bowls, High School Teach-Ins, and Citizens for Nuclear Technology education programs. Sharon has a BS in Ceramic Engineering from Alfred University.
Tammy Taylor
Deputy Laboratory Director, Science and Technology
Tammy Taylor is the deputy director of Science and Technology at Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL). She serves as SRNL’s chief research officer and is responsible for the Science and Energy Security Mission initiative, instilling the proper safety culture in the research organizations, and delivering an integrated science and technology strategy. Taylor previously served as SRNL’s associate laboratory director for Global Security, responsible for delivering on the nonproliferation and global security components of national security programs and assuring delivery of all nonproliferation program commitments across the laboratory. This includes developing programs to minimize global inventory of nuclear materials for the Department of Energy (DOE) and spearheading new research and development activities with the Department of Defense and civilian governmental agencies. Taylor’s experiences prior to her arrival at SRNL in June of 2021 included serving as director of the International Data Center for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization, where she led an international technical organization at the United Nations Vienna International Centre. The organization was responsible for detecting and verifying nuclear explosions, which was accomplished by developing and implementing complex operations, treaty compliance, budgets, strategy, and capacity-building. Taylor has spent her career serving at other DOE national laboratories, including as a deputy associate director and division director at Los Alamos National Laboratory and as chief operating officer at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Taylor is a recognized subject-matter expert in global security and has authored more than 70 publications. Additionally, she is a Emeritus member and former board of directors’ appointee of the National Council of Radiation Protection and Measurements, a long-time member of the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management and the Health Physics Society. Taylor has a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering from New Mexico State University, and a Master of Science and a Doctor of Philosophy in environmental engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Connie Herman
Associate Laboratory Director, Environmental and Legacy Management
Connie is the Associate Laboratory Director, Environmental and Legacy Management for Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL). In this position, she is accountable for managing and delivering on the EM and LM commitments of SRNL, supporting DOE’s EM strategies across the complex, developing modern approaches to reduce waste, developing low-cost passive remediation technologies and monitoring strategies for EM and LM implementation, and supporting national needs to minimize global environmental impact. Over the past 30 years, Connie has served in various roles at Savannah River Site. Since beginning her career as an engineer in the Plutonium-238 fabrication facility, she has taken on numerous management and director roles within SRNL. Most recently, she was the Associate Laboratory Director, Environmental, Materials, and Energy Sciences Directorate overseeing nuclear and chemical processing, materials science and engineering, environmental remediation, biology, and risk assessment competencies. Connie has authored more than 150 technical reports and planning documents for SRNL and 68 articles in peer-reviewed publications. She has held numerous leadership roles for the American Ceramic Society, Nuclear & Environmental Technology Division; a member of the U.S. National Laboratory International Advisory Group member for the Transformative Science and Engineering for Nuclear Decommissioning (TRANSCEND) program; and a member of the National Laboratory Professional Advisory Board for the Nuclear Environmental Engineering and Science Program at Clemson University. Connie received a B.S. in Ceramic Engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla.
Patrick Garcia
Associate Laboratory Director, Weapons Production Technology
Patrick Garcia is the associate laboratory director for Weapons Production Technology at Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL). In this role, he is responsible for delivering on all SRNL weapons program components of the National Security Initiative, leading SRNL’s Research and Development efforts to deliver more efficient tritium-based processing technologies, leading materials research to improve the understanding of gas/metal interactions, establishing technical competencies supporting plutonium pit production, and supporting new technologies for more efficient production of helium-3. Prior to joining SRNL, Garcia was the senior director of the Stockpile Management Office within the Production Agency at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). He held multiple technical and programmatic leadership roles over his 31 years of service at LANL, including leading the Weapon Systems Engineering Division, the program integration office start up, the warhead manager of the W76 Mk4/4A and W88 Mk5, lead of Design Agency (DA) Surveillance and DA system, the W76 System Surveillance Engineer, and Pit Surveillance Engineer. Additionally, he was a member of several groups while at LANL, including Mk4/4A and Mk5 Project Officer Group and the Joint Re-Entry System Working Group with the United Kingdom Trident Program. Prior to his work at LANL, he was a rod mill production engineer for American Rolling Mill Company. Garcia has earned multiple Defense Programs Award of Excellence from the National Nuclear Security Administration, a LANL Distinguished Performance Award, and the Secretary of Energy’s Achievement Award. Garcia has a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from New Mexico State University.
Dale Sivils
Program Director, Plutonium Processing Program
Dale is the Program Director for Plutonium Processing Program at Savannah River National Laboratory. In this role, he is responsible for the emerging SRNL nuclear weapons program including product engineering, production process development, analytical chemistry, materials characterization, and quality engineering. Prior to this role, Dale was the Director of Science and Technology, Weapons Production Technology Program Office and Executive Team Leader for pit production technology at SRNL, where he served as the pit production technical authority and primary interface with the weapon design agencies for product engineering. Dale spent 20 years in various leadership roles at Los Alamos National Laboratory, including Director for Production Agency Quality Division, Plutonium Science and Manufacturing; Executive Advisor for Plutonium Sciences and Manufacturing; Senior Science and Technology Advisor for NNSA Military Applications and Stockpile Operations, and Group Leader for Applied Chemical Technology. During his career he has been awarded the Defense Programs Award of Excellence four times and is a recipient of R&D Magazine’s “R&D 100 Award”. Dale received a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Missouri University of Science and Technology and a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Arkansas-Monticello.