Columbia, S.C.-based Energy Department subcontractor AVANTech recently hired Mark Ping as its senior vice president of business development for utility services.
Ping’s nuclear career spans more than 35 years and includes experience in radioactive water treatment, wet waste processing, and disposal, the company said in a Feb. 19 press release. The company is a provider of industrial water treatment.
Ping will help bring integrated products and services to the nuclear and fossil fuel utility industries, according to AVANTech, which also has locations in Knoxville, Tenn., and Richland, Wash.
“The addition of Mark to our team is a key strategic move for AVANTech,” Gary Benda, AVANTech’s executive vice president of business development, said in the release. “His extensive background with U.S. utilities in waste management and water treatment, and his exceptional reputation within the industry, will significantly enhance our growth.”
Ping joined AVANTech in February after more than a year as vice president of business development for WMG Inc., a software provider for the nuclear industry, according to his LinkedIn profile. Prior to that he spent nine years as a vice president for development and technical sales manager at Salt Lake City-based nuclear services provider EnergySolutions.
In the newly created post, Ping will work out of the Columbia office and report to Benda.
Last July, AVANTech acquired Mid Columbia Engineering (MCE), a Richland, Wash., firm that provides systems for sampling and testing radioactive waste at the nearby Hanford Site. Shortly before the MCE purchase was announced, AVANTech was picked by AECOM-led Washington River Protection Solutions to design and build a pretreatment facility for tank wastes at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) at Hanford.
Las Vegas-based Energy Department subcontractor Longenecker & Associates this week hired a former regulator with the Washington state Department of Ecology.
The newly-hired associate, Ron Skinnarland, will work out of Richland, Wash., and report to Longenecker Senior Vice President for Operations Christine Gelles. He joins the company’s regulatory team, which assists with compliance issues on the firm’s subcontracts.
Skinnarland spent 30 years with the state Ecology Department, including two decades as a manager in the branch that regulates DOE’s Hanford Site. In his state role, Skinnarland was responsible for regulatory oversight of solid and liquid waste treatment, storage, and disposal at Hanford, along with the site’s PUREX and Plutonium Finishing plants.
A woman-owned small business, Longenecker was founded in 1989 and holds several subcontracts around the DOE weapons complex. This includes work at the Hanford Site, the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, and the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, according to its website. It assists Energy Department contractors with issues such as risk management, regulatory compliance, startup and commission, safety, and quality assurance.
