EM Recipients of the 2024 Presidential Rank Awards
Office of Environmental Management
December 12, 2024
minute read time
Brian T. Vance
Hanford Site Manager
Office of Environmental Management
Meritorious Rank Award
Brian Vance is the Manager of the Office of River Protection and Richland Operations Office, recently combined as the Hanford Field Office, within the Office of Environmental Management (EM). In this capacity, he is responsible for the management of a staff of over 500 federal employees and support contractors, and oversight of six prime contractors employing a workforce of more than 13,000 employees executing environmental cleanup of the 586-square-mile Hanford site in Washington.
During the Manhattan Project era and the Cold War, weapons production processes left solid and liquid waste that posed a risk to the local environment. He ensures cleanup of the site, which includes projects such as groundwater remediation, hazardous waste, facilities decontamination, and disposal operations. Additional efforts include treatment and disposal of radioactive chemical liquid waste, as well as, the design, construction, and commissioning of the world's largest complex of nuclear vitrification facilities, the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant. Vance’s performance as manager of the largest and most complex of the 15 EM cleanup sites, and one of the most complex sites in the Department, has been exceptional.
Vance works effectively with his leadership team, driving an improving trend of contractor delivery performance and site-level teamwork while transforming the site culture to one supporting operations. This transformation created conditions for the achievement of the start of tank waste treatment for approximately 56 million gallons of mixed chemical and radioactive waste.
Under his leadership, his team has continued to safely deliver outstanding cleanup progress, while strengthening working relationships between the Department, contractors, regulators, tribes, and labor leaders.
Connie M. Flohr
(Former) Manager, Idaho Cleanup Project
Office of Environmental Management
Meritorious Rank Award
In her service as manager of the Idaho Cleanup Project from 2020 until her departure in April 2024, Connie Flohr was responsible for all management and disposition of waste, spent nuclear fuel (SNF), and high-level waste at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Site, and providing management oversight and leadership for 52 federal employees, and over 1,900 contractors. In this role, Flohr led sensitive negotiations with the state of Idaho, turned around a $1.4 billion project that had experienced intractable technical issues since 2011, and consistently delivered results, saving taxpayers millions of dollars and removing risks for the people of the state of Idaho. From February 2017 to February 2020, Flohr served as the Deputy Manager for ICP.
Flohr initiated start-up of Integrated Waste Treatment Unit after 12 years of commissioning which enables INL fuel receipts for research per Idaho Settlement Agreement (ISA). She completed buried waste retrieval mission 18 months ahead of ISA milestone, and also completed SNF wet-to-dry transfer campaign nine months ahead of the ISA milestone and passed Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspection at Fort Saint Vrain in Colorado. She completed the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Facility mission and the treatment of all Idaho legacy waste.
She piloted the government-wide OPM-sponsored Qualification Review Board for resume-based Senior Executive Service (SES) assessment method. Flohr drafted charter and established EM's Performance Evaluation and Measurement Plan (PEMP) Board and EM's Fee Determination Board to ensure consistency in criteria used to make fee decisions across the EM complex. She demonstrated corporate mindset through recurring participation on SES hiring panels, EM Staffing Review Committee, EM PEMP/Fee Board, and serving as EM's Field Representative on DOE's Safety Culture Improvement Panel (SCIP), as well as serving as Executive Sponsor to the SCIP Communications Working Group. Flohr also served as the Fee Determining Official for the ICP contract, leveraging tens of millions of dollars in annual award fee to drive performance improvements from the ICP contractor.