Department of Energy NNSA Los Alamos Field Office Manager Ted Wyka/Photo Courtesy NNSA
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY/NNSA NEWS
It’s been almost a month since Ted Wyka returned to the Los Alamos Field Office, this time as Field Office Manager for the federal staff that provides contract oversight of the 13,000-person Los Alamos National Laboratory.
“It’s good to be back,” Wyka said. “I spent a good amount of time here in the past in various roles. I’m very familiar with LANL and the region and I look forward to talking further, or for the first time, with stakeholders interested in NNSA’s national security mission and LANL’s role in it.”
While New Mexico navigates its way out of the COVID-19 pandemic, Wyka is gradually scheduling in-person meetings with local and regional leaders.
“It’s exciting to see the increase in activity and energy that comes with folks returning to the site. And soon, I hope, I’ll get to sit down with stakeholders to discuss mutual items of interest.”
As Los Alamos Field Office manager, Wyka leads a team of about 80 people that oversee the management, security, quality assurance, environment, and health and safety of the national security missions at LANL. Serving as his deputy managers are Jason Saenz and Erika Wisdom. Saenz is Deputy Manager of Technical Operations, which includes the Field Operations and Nuclear Safety, Engineering and Readiness teams. Wisdom is Deputy Manager of Business, Security and Missions which includes three organizations: Safeguards and Security, Business and Contract Management and Mission Assurance and Infrastructure.
Wyka worked at the Field Office from 2016-2018 including as Deputy Manager for Technical Operations in 2018. He provided leadership and direction supervision of the Field Operations and Nuclear Safety, Engineering and Readiness organizations.
In 2018, he returned NNSA’s headquarters office in Washington, D.C., to serve as NNSA’s Principal Deputy Associate Administrator for Safety, Infrastructure, and Operations, with responsibility for the programs, policies, and procedures assuring effective integration of safety, health, and infrastructure activities across the NNSA’s Nuclear Security Enterprise. He also served as the NNSA Cognizant Secretarial Officer and was responsible for safety basis and startup approval authority, as well as the operational safety of the NNSA Enterprise.