Deputy General Manager for Operations Dave Richardson to Replace Spencer Feb. 1
Todd Jacobson
NS&D Monitor
1/10/2014
Chuck Spencer is stepping down from his position as the President and General Manager of B&W Y-12 and will be returning to B&W headquarters next month, he said in a message to employees Jan. 10. Spencer will be replaced by Dave Richardson, who has served as B&W Y-12’s deputy general manager for operations since the fall of 2012, and Richardson will be replaced by Vice President and Division Director of Facilities, Infrastructure and Services Linda Bauer.
At B&W headquarters, Spencer will resume his role as the chief operating officer of B&W’s Technical Services Group, a job that he held for several months before he was brought to Y-12 in the wake of the July 2012 security breach. Spencer replaced Darrel Kohlhorst after the security breach and has overseen B&W Y-12’s response to the incident and a host of corrective actions that have altered security at the site. In a message to employees, he noted that morale was at a “very low point” when he took over in August of 2012. At the time, the site was reeling from the security breach, and there was considerable uncertainty from an ongoing contract competition for management of the site that remains unresolved to this day. “I am very proud of what you have accomplished in the year and a half you have allowed me to be a part of your team and am confident that you are well prepared for a great future,” Spencer said.
When he took over, he said his immediate goal was repairing security at the site and regaining the confidence of stakeholders. “We have gone through much change and worked tirelessly,” he said. “What I am most proud of is how we immediately became more introspective. How we all began to question virtually every aspect of our business. Not just security, but operations, maintenance, our assurance system, development, engineering, etc. We did this not because we were performing poorly in these areas, but because that is what a good company does. It is willing to look at itself with a critical eye so that it can be the best at what it does.”
