NOW 2024 Agenda

Continental Breakfast Buffet - Presented by: LIS Technologies

• Tracy Boatner, President & CEO, East Tennessee Economic Council (ETEC)
• Bill Lee, Governor, State of Tennessee (via video)
• Bob Morris, Chair, ETEC Nuclear Working Group & President and Founding Principal of Robert Morris Consulting
• Joe Heckman, Chairman of the Board, East Tennessee Economic Council & President, Waste Management, EnergySolutions
• Chuck Fleischmann, U.S. Congressman, 3rd District Tennessee

Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Reactors
Office of Nuclear Energy
U.S. Department of Energy 

Brian Smith serves as the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Reactors. He leads a portfolio of work that includes research, development, and deployment of technologies that underpin the technical and economic sustainability of the nation’s commercial fleet of nuclear reactors, as well as development and deployment of advanced reactors and supporting technologies. A career member of the Senior Executive Service, Mr. Smith has also served as a senior advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy, in which he engaged with federal, state, and Congressional stakeholders to advance the Department’s goals for nuclear power, fuel cycle technologies, and spent nuclear fuel management.

Mr. Smith previously served as a professional staff member with the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations, Energy and Water Development Subcommittee. His oversight portfolio included the nation’s nuclear weapons complex, defense and non-defense environmental cleanup, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Department of Energy’s Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, and the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board.

In previous Executive Branch assignments, Mr. Smith served as the acquisition director and head of the contracting activity for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). NNSA is a semi-autonomous agency within the U.S. Department of Energy responsible for enhancing national security through the military application of nuclear science. Mr. Smith also acted as NNSA’s Deputy Associate Administrator for Management, in which he oversaw a variety of key business functions critical to meeting NNSA’s mission. Mr. Smith also held executive leadership roles in business and financial management with Naval Reactors, a joint Department of Energy / Department of the Navy program responsible for all aspects of naval nuclear propulsion. During his tenure, Mr. Smith participated in multiple interagency reviews to scope and execute the modernization of the nation’s nuclear deterrent.

Mr. Smith served on active duty as an officer in the U.S. Navy and maintains his uniformed service as a drilling Navy reservist. He holds a B.A. from the University of Central Florida, an M.S. from the George Washington University, and certifications in project management, contracting, and human resources.

Brian Smith will be introduced by: Adam DeMella, Consultant, AMM Strategies, LLC

• Adam DeMella, Consultant, AMM Strategies, LLC
• Jay Mullis, Manager, Oak Ridge Environmental Management, U.S. Department of Energy
• Ken Rueter, President and Chief Executive Officer, United Cleanup Oak Ridge (UCOR)

Presented by: WM Symposia
Speaker: Robert Weiler, Board Member, WM Symposia

Panel moderated by Brian Wirth, Governor’s Chair Professor, Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of Tennessee

• Chris Mowry, Chief Executive Officer, Type One Energy
• Cami Collins, Interim Section Head, Burning Plasma Foundations, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
• Brenda Garcia-Diaz, Program Manager, Fusion Energy, Savannah River National Laboratory
• Steven Krahn, Professor, Practice of Nuclear Environmental Engineering, Vanderbilt University
• Patrick Ellis, Manager, Strategic Partnerships, General Fusion

Lunch Presented By: Tennessee's Advanced Energy Business Council (TAEBC)'s ENERGY NETWORK, Operating with Support from Launch TN

Presented By: Tennessee's Advanced Energy Business Council's ENERGY NETWORK, Operating with Support from Launch TN

Speaker: Cortney Piper, Executive Director, Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council (TAEBC)

Panel moderated by Lloyd Jollay, Vice President, Isotopes and Nuclear Fuel Cycle, Boston Government Services & Peter Newby, President, MS Technology

• Larry Cutlip, Senior Vice President, Field Operations, Centrus Energy Corp.
• Dan Brown, Director, Fuel Fabrication, TRISO-X
• Micah Hackett, Senior Director, Fuels & Materials, Kairos Power
• Bruce Hilton, Technical Director, TerraPower
• Brian Ade, Fuel Design Manager, Ultra Safe Nuclear

Introduction by: Rich Tighe, President and CEO, Consolidated Nuclear Security, Y12 National Security Complex

Panel moderated by Martin Williamson, Senior Director of Global Security and Strategic Partnerships, Consolidated Nuclear Security

• Jennifer Charlton, Chief Scientist, Y-12 National Security Complex
• Cary Crawford, Director, Nuclear Nonproliferation Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
• Sean Gleason, President & CEO, IB3 Global Solutions & Oak Ridge City Councilman
• Sherrell Greene, President & Founder, Advanced Technology Insights
• Teresa Robbins, Manager, Y-12 Field Office, National Nuclear Security Administration, U.S. Department of Energy
• Krista Wiegand, Professor & Director, Center for National Security and Foreign Affairs, University of Tennessee Baker School of Public Policy and Public Affairs

Presented by: WM Symposia

TENNESSEE NUCLEAR ENERGY ADVISORY COUNCIL
Facilitator: Chris Jones, President and CEO, Middle Tennessee Electric

• Loong Yong, President, Spectra Tech
• Wes Hines, Postelle Professor, Chancellor's Professor, and Head, Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of Tennessee Knoxville
• Don Moul, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Tennessee Valley Authority
• Hash Hashemian, President and Chief Executive Officer, Analysis and Measurement Services; American Nuclear Society President-Elect
• Braden Stover, Chief Policy Officer, Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development
• Terry Frank, Anderson County Mayor

• Jeff Smith, Vice President for National Labs, University of Tennessee System
• Jeffrey (Jeff) Lyash, President and Chief Executive Officer, Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
• Maria Korsnick, President and Chief Executive Officer, Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI)
• Stephen Streiffer, Director, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)

Senior Advisor for Environmental Management
U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management

As the Senior Advisor for Environmental Management, Candice Robertson provides leadership for the safe cleanup of the environmental legacy brought about from eight decades of nuclear weapons development and government-sponsored nuclear energy research.

Robertson has over 20 years of experience leading all aspects of radioactive waste management, with more than a decade in senior executive roles at the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Previously, she served as a senior policy advisor for the Office of Environmental Management (EM). In this role, she led EM’s efforts to site industrial-scale energy projects at EM sites as part of the DOE Cleanup to Clean Energy initiative.

Robertson’s experience spans the entirety of the EM mission, having served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Associate Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Field Operations, Associate Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Corporate Services, Director of External Affairs, and Chief of Staff. In addition to her leadership within EM, Robertson previously served as a Nye County Commissioner in Nevada, DOE’s Chief Human Capital Officer, senior staff for three Energy Deputy Secretaries and Chief of Staff to Nuclear Regulatory Commissioner Bradley Crowell.

Presented by:  Nuclear Services Partners
Speaker: Lloyd Brown, President, Nuclear Services Partners

Welcome from:

• Randy McNally, Lt. Governor, State of Tennessee
• Ken Yager, Senator, State of Tennessee
• Terry Frank, Mayor, Anderson County, Tennessee
• Wade Creswell, County Executive, Roane County, Tennessee