Karen Thompson serves as the acting director of the Planning and Execution Division for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. She began this post in March 2025.
Thompson is responsible for overseeing the planning and execution of cleanup at the Y-12 National Security Complex, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and East Tennessee Technology Park. Her oversight also includes strategic planning; life cycle baseline development and configuration control; budget development; funds management; contractor earned value management system validation; real and personal property; and integration, analysis, and reporting of contractor cost and schedule performance.
Before taking this role, she served as the Planning and Baseline Management branch chief since 2014, where she was responsible for managing the day-to-day activities for property, budget formulation, baseline and planning, and project controls.
Previously, Thompson was the project controls analyst for the East Tennessee Technology Park, including the K-25 Project and as the coordinator for the K-25 historic preservation effort. The K-25 demolition project was the largest in DOE’s history.
Before joining OREM, Karen spent several years in production engineering at Denso Manufacturing. In this capacity, she tracked utility consumption and fixed assets, developed process control documentation, and monitored production rates.
Karen holds an associate degree in general studies from Roane State Community College. She is active in Riverview Baptist church, where she and her husband, Blake, are mission coordinators. She lives in Sweetwater with Blake, her bonus son Chandler, and their dog Wookie. They enjoy cooking, spending time with family, and gardening.