Former federal nuclear cleanup execs open to new work

Two former high-ranking members of the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup branch who took some variant of the White House’s buyout program say on social media they are open to new professional opportunities.

Candice Robertston, the recent former head of DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM), as well as Mike Budney, former EM operations boss at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina are both listed as “open to work,” according to updated profiles on the LinkedIn social media platform.

Robertson, who left as the top federal manager at EM a few weeks ago, after replacing William (Ike) White in that role in June 2024, lives in the Greater Richmond region. She is open to executive-level posts either onsite, remote or on a hybrid basis. Sources say Robertson elected to exit DOE rather than commit to being in its Washington, D.C. headquarters essentially full-time. The Donald Trump administration has prioritized getting feds back to the office.

Exchange Monitor reported last month that Budney, EM’s Savannah River Site manager since February 2018, would be leaving DOE. Budney, a retired Navy officer, has held other supervisory jobs at DOE and also worked with Northrop Grumman.

“ I am casually looking,” Budney said in his open-to-work notification on LinkedIn. Budney is open to either remote work or something onsite in the Aiken, S.C., area where he makes his home. A DOE representative said Budney has not yet officially retired from the government. 

DOE’s $8-billion Office of Environmental Management, which bills itself as the larges cleanup operation in the world, is currently led in Washington, D.C. by career fed Dae Chung.  The Trump administration has nominated Colorado real estate developer Tim Walsh to lead the cleanup branch.

At Savannah River, Edwin Deshong III, who has been with DOE since the early 1990s, is the current deputy manager.