Alissa Tabirian
NS&D Monitor
6/26/2015
Sandia National Laboratories has selected Jill Hruby as its next president and director, the lab announced yesterday. Hruby, whose predecessor Paul Hommert is set to retire next month, will begin in her new position on July 17 following 32 years of technical and managerial work at the lab, according to the notice. Hruby “will be the first woman to lead a national security laboratory” and is recognized by Sandia’s board of directors as an individual with “the right combination of technical expertise and strategic vision to lead Sandia into the future,” the notice says. Before this appointment, Hruby was a vice president “overseeing Sandia efforts in nuclear, biological and chemical security; homeland security; counterterrorism; and energy security,” according to the announcement.
Hruby began in 1983 as a technical staff member, conducting research and later transitioning into management in 1989. After becoming a technical director, Hruby led the Homeland Security and Defense Systems Center and eventually joined the New Mexico site in 2010. Hruby said in a statement that “we will continue to deliver on our weapons Life Extension Programs on schedule and on budget” and “build on [Hommert’s] recent efforts to strategically advance our broad national security contributions, strengthen our basic research and expand the transfer of Sandia innovations to the U.S. economy.” Commenting on the appointment, Hommert said in the statement, “there is no one more qualified than Jill to lead those efforts.”
