Less than two months after stepping aside as the No. 2 official in the Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup office, James Owendoff is taking a new job within the agency.
Starting next week, Owendoff will be DOE-wide chief risk officer, a senior executive position within the office of the Chief Financial Officer John Vonglis. He formally assumes the role on Sept. 30, according to an email distributed Wednesday within the Energy Department.
“In this role, Jim will review DOE’s Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) model” and help keep the department keep abreast of its “risks, challenges, and opportunities,” says the message.
Owendoff became principal deputy assistant secretary for environmental management in June 2017, effectively serving as day-to-day leader of the cleanup office until Anne Marie White was confirmed as assistant secretary in March. In August he was named DOE Office of Environmental Management special adviser for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. His selection for the new job was intended to improve collaboration between the cleanup office and DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration.
It was not immediately known whether Owendoff continues to work in that capacity. A DOE spokesperson said by email the department does not comment on personnel matters.
An Energy Department website lists Vonglis both as the agency’s chief financial officer and its chief risk officer.
A retired Air Force officer, Owendoff has served since the 1990s in management roles at Environmental Management and other DOE offices. He was a senior adviser for the Environmental Management office from 2010 to 2017.
