Michael Nartker, the chief of staff for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, will leave the government to join DOE small-business contractor Longenecker & Associates, someone familiar with the move said Tuesday.
Nartker has worked in various communications and external relations roles for DOE’s nuclear-weapons cleanup branch since 2015, capping his seven-year government stint as the chief of staff for the Office of Environmental Management (EM).
At the same time, EM announced this week deputy Chief of staff Allison Finelli will leave the cleanup program next month to become chief of staff for the DOE Office of Legacy Management, which handles post-closure responsibilities at sites cleaned up by EM, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers or the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act program, commonly known as Superfund.
Prior to his government career, Nartker was editor in chief of ExchangeMonitor Publications.
Finelli has been EM’s deputy chief of staff since March 2020 and has worked in EM headquarters office roles since 2018. She has also worked in field operations, communications and other roles for Environmental Management.
Erik Olds, director of communications for EM, will be the office’s acting chief of staff after Nartker leaves on June 24, according to an EM press release. Olds is a longtime DOE manager who has served in senior positions at both EM headquarters in Washington, D.C. and the Hanford Site in Washington state.
Longtime fed John Howard will serve as acting deputy chief of staff upon Finelli’s departure. After joining EM in 2009, Howard has served as director of the EM Correspondence Control Center since 2015.
