Sandia National Laboratories Director Jill Hruby nearly topped Business Insider’s list this week of the 43 most powerful female engineers of 2017 in the U.S. technology sector.
Hruby came in at No. 2, behind only Peggy Johnson, executive vice president for business development at Microsoft. Barbara Rusinko, a president at major Department of Energy contractor Bechtel, took the No. 3 slot in the list timed to National Engineers Week.
Business Insider noted that Hruby in July 2015 became the first woman to lead a Department of Energy nuclear weapons laboratory.
“During the years prior to her promotion she worked on everything from nuclear weapons to solar power,” according to the business website. “In 2016, the Society of Women Engineers honored her with its “upward mobility” award, for breaking the glass ceiling in one of the world’s most respected engineering organizations and for helping other women in the field as well.”
Hruby has been with Sandia for more than three decades, starting with 27 years at the laboratory’s California facility. She moved to New Mexico in 2010 to take the position of vice president for Sandia’s Energy, Nonproliferation, and High-Consequence Security Division, as well as head of the International, Homeland, and Nuclear Security Program Management Unit.
As director, Hruby leads an organization of roughly 10,000 employees in four states that conducts non-nuclear engineering development for nuclear weapons, develops systems that ensure the reliability of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, and supports the manufacturing and disassembly of nuclear weapons, among other technical nonproliferation and treaty verification support activities.
“It is an honor to receive this recognition. I owe this distinction to the highly dedicated and innovative engineers and scientists I’ve had the privilege to work alongside for the past 34 years,” Hruby said in a statement to NS&D Monitor. “I hope the list of women engineers, and the many other activities that promote STEM careers during National Engineers Week, will inspire talented students to choose technical work focused on public service.”
Hruby is also president of Sandia Corp., the Lockheed Martin subsidiary that manages the laboratory. Her term in the top positions is nearing an end, as a Honeywell International subsidiary will take over the Sandia contract on May 1. National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia (NTESS) is bringing in its own management team, headed by soon-to-be Sandia Director Stephen Younger.
Hruby has not decided on her plans for after the management transition, Sandia spokesman Jim Danneskiold said Thursday.
Bechtel’s Rusinko has been with the company for more than three decades. As president of its Nuclear, Security, and Environmental business, and president of government services provider Bechtel National, Rusinko “leads a multibillion dollar business of engineering and construction projects for the US government ranging from national security to environmental cleanup,” Business Insider said.
Bechtel National is the prime contractor for the Waste Treatment Plant, which is being built to process up to 56 million gallons of radioactive and chemical waste now in storage at DOE’s Hanford Site in Washington state. It is also one of the parent companies of Los Alamos National Security, the management and operations contractor of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.
The Business Insider article did not detail how the annual ranking was formulated. The majority of the recognized engineers were from easily recognizable national and international names such as Ford, Apple, Google, Twitter, and Uber.
