John Woolery, a top contractor official at the Energy Department’s Pantex plant in Texas since 2003, has been named president and general manager of Babcock & Wilcox Technical Services Pantex LLC, which operates the nuclear warhead assembly and disassembly facility for the department.
Woolery will assume his new duties March 5, replacing outgoing President and General Manager Greg Meyer, who is retiring from Babcock & Wilcox (B&W), the company said Monday.
Woolery takes over Pantex at a time when the plant is a key focus of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the semi-autonomous DoE agency that oversees the department’s nuclear weapons complex.
Pantex is DoE’s primary facility for monitoring and refurbishing the nation’s aging warheads, which NNSA sees as crucial to maintaining warhead reliability. Pantex is also the only plant capable of dismantling old warheads that are being retired.
Woolery currently serves as the deputy general manager for operations at B&W Pantex, with oversight responsibility for directed stockpile work and campaigns program management; manufacturing; engineering; applied technology; supply chain management and quality and performance assurance.
Before becoming deputy, Woolery spent almost three years as the director of program management for directed stockpile weapons work and engineering and science campaigns. Woolery also served as the division manager for the quality and performance assurance organization at Pantex.
Previously, Woolery gained more than 14 years of experience in DoE activities with Honeywell [HON] Federal Manufacturing & Technologies at the Kansas City Plant, which manufactures electrical and mechanical components and assemblies for nuclear weapons programs.