Brookhaven Lab Reorganizes Facilities & Operations Staff and Functions

UPTON, NY —The Facilities & Operations (F&O) Directorate at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory has been reorganized to improve services to its customers and to better focus on supporting the strategic direction of the Laboratory.

The Laboratory’s broad mission is to produce excellent science in a safe, environmentally sound manner with the cooperation of its many communities. F&O contributes to this mission by providing a safe, reliable infrastructure with minimal environmental impact for the Laboratory, carrying out crafts and fabrication services, and protecting employees and guests, property and national security.

“This reorganization began over six months ago, when three teams of F&O managers, with input from our customers, started to design the new structure in three main categories: protection, modernization, and operations,” said Lanny Bates, Assistant Laboratory Director for F&O. “We then went through an extensive, competitive effort to staff these service areas, with a strong focus on team performance. We now have a more efficient management structure. I believe these changes will enhance our ability to align the support and research functions of the Laboratory.”

Bates oversees an annual budget of about $80 million and approximately 530 employees in the F&O Directorate at Brookhaven Lab, a 61-year-old facility that includes more than 350 buildings on its sprawling 5,300-acre campus. Home to six Nobel Prizes, the Laboratory is world-famous for its scientific research.

The F&O Directorate has been reorganized into the following divisions:

John Amabile enlarge

John Amabile (Click on the image to download a high-resolution version.)

Laboratory Protection Division
Managed by John Amabile
This division, formed to consolidate all protective and response functions into a single, cohesive and efficient organization, includes the former Safeguards & Security and Emergency Services Divisions. Amabile served in the U.S. Army from 1982 to 2002, earning a B.A. in general studies and management from Columbia College, Missouri, in 2001. He held management positions for Wackenhut Services Incorporated, a security services contractor, and for the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, before he joined Brookhaven Lab as Manager of Safeguards & Security in 2006.


Michael Schaeffer enlarge

Michael Schaeffer (Click on the image to download a high-resolution version.)

Modernization Project Office
Managed by Michael Schaeffer
This office coordinates all engineering, construction and project-control functions, and it will be the Laboratory’s center for project management. This group is responsible for leading Brookhaven’s efforts in facilities’ modernization, including a proposed $300-million plan for improving the Lab’s infrastructure. Schaeffer earned a B.S. in architecture from Kent State University, Ohio, and worked for a major architectural and engineering firm in Manhattan before joining Brookhaven Lab in 1977. After holding several engineering positions at the Lab, he moved through the ranks to management in 1994.


Leo Somma enlarge

Leo Somma (Click on the image to download a high-resolution version.)

Maintenance & Fabrication Services Division
Managed by Leo Somma
This division combines the former Central Fabrication Division — responsible for manufacturing mechanical components and assemblies in support of the Laboratory’s mission — with mechanical, electrical, and building service groups. Somma earned a B.S. and an M.S. in engineering, both from Polytechnic Institute of New York, and an MBA from Dowling College. He worked in engineering positions at the former Long Island Lighting Company’s Shoreham Nuclear Power Station before joining Brookhaven Lab in 1989 as a shift supervisor for the High Flux Beam Reactor. He held several management positions at the research reactor, which closed in 1999, and, most recently, he was Superintendent of Maintenance and Services at the Laboratory.


Thomas Lambertson enlarge

Thomas Lambertson (Click on the image to download a high-resolution version.)

Site Services Division
Managed by Thomas Lambertson
This division includes custodial services, roads and grounds, rigging, and heavy equipment machine operations. Lambertson joined the Laboratory in 1979 as an experimental machinist, and he worked his way up to several supervisory positions in the Central Shops Division and manager of Central Fabrication Services Division before assuming his current role. He completed numerous training courses in management and safety.


Ed Murphy enlarge

Ed Murphy (Click on the image to download a high-resolution version.)

Energy& Utilities Division
Managed by Ed Murphy
This division focuses on issues related to energy management, conservation, utility infrastructure, and the continued expansion of utility systems to meet the Laboratory’s future needs in computing and facility growth. Murphy received a B.S. in mechanical engineering and an M.S. in energy management, both from the New York Institute of Technology. After working in private industry, he joined Brookhaven in 1979 as a project engineer. He moved through the ranks to assume several management positions, including Manager of the Plant Engineering Division.


Jeffrey Swenson enlarge

Jeffrey Swenson (Click on the image to download a high-resolution version.)

Staff Services Division
Managed by Jeffrey Swenson
This division, which remains unchanged, is responsible for housing, interoffice mail delivery, cafeteria and catering services, conference services, and recreation and quality of life services. After earning a B.A. in sociology and anthropology from Lycoming College, Pennsylvania, Swenson worked as a hotel manager for Inn America Corporation. He joined Brookhaven Lab as the Housing Supervisor in 1992, becoming Manager of Staff Services in 2002.


Gary Olsen enlarge

Gary Olsen (Click on the image to download a high-resolution version.)

Facilities Operations Office
Headed by Gary Olsen
This office addresses key issues in work planning, maintenance engineering, service-delivery models, and annual facility-work plans. Olsen earned a B.S. in industrial engineering from the New York Institute of Technology and an M.A. in occupational safety from New York University. He worked in the insurance industry before becoming Manager/Director of corporate services at Eaton, a defense electronics company, in 1983. He moved to Symbol Technologies, Inc., (currently Motorola) as Director of U.S. Corporate Services in 1996, and, in 2001, became the company’s Vice President of International Corporate Services.


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