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Saturday, September 1, 2012

Tomas replacement

Anonymously contributed: ----------------------- What do you think of Tomas' replacement?

39 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's already been decided so anyone can grab it and paste it here any time they want. The question is, WFC's. I do know that those who took the job are going to get a great pay riase so they too can deplete TCP-1 ultra fast.

Anonymous said...

Who is it? Goldstein? I think he is a fine pick. He is a no-nonsense, honest straight-shooter. Though he is not a man of many words however, though I think that is fine for the job and maybe a good thing even. Maybe those who are at the lab can say if this is still the case or if he is more talkative now.

Anonymous said...

I think the interesting question is who takes Goldstein's old position. There are a few decent candidates, and there are a few slippery lowlife wolf-in-sheeps-clothing scumbags who would kill for that position, or even to offer to bury dead bodies for you. Gotta keep moving up in an enterprise that is under the squeeze.

Anonymous said...

"There are a few decent candidates, and there are a few slippery lowlife wolf-in-sheeps-clothing scumbags who would kill for that position"

Parney needs to investigate how workers are being treated and how these people have failed with outside customers. Investigate the acting people very carefully.

Anonymous said...

I have good hope that they will pick a decent candidate who is effective and not prone to the kind of behavior that came out of Tomas when he was an AD. They will need good effective team players going forward as hard times are ahead for the lab.

Anonymous said...

Then, why choose people who are a product of Tomas' leadership?

Anonymous said...

Tomas did not develop a lot of managers. Most are not a product of his doing.

Anonymous said...

not my experience

Anonymous said...

I'm thinking about the bad ones who were corrupt without any help, and we're not born into Tomas' circle. Maybe it is because I have not paid attention to more recent news. Did he bring in a lot of people for management and leadership positions? Or maybe you refer to those born into Hal's circle who became part of tomas' orbit by default?

Anonymous said...

Take Bret Knapp, please take Bret Knapp........

Anonymous said...

Was thinking more in terms of CM or GF as AD. Also outside candidates. Knapp for an AD level position? People ready to be demoted should be let go instead.

Anonymous said...

I'm thinking about the bad ones who were corrupt without any help, and we're not born into Tomas' circle. Maybe it is because I have not paid attention to more recent news. Did he bring in a lot of people for management and leadership positions? Or maybe you refer to those born into Hal's circle who became part of tomas' orbit by default?
Hal or Tomas...does it really matter.
And yes........you figure it out.

Anonymous said...

"Then, why choose people who are a product of Tomas' leadership?"

The writer is probably trying to say "why choose people who have benefitted from the corrupt environment that Tomas was part of and facilitated."

I would completely agree

Anonymous said...

Tomas' cronies. LOL

Anonymous said...

exactly.....https://www.llnl.gov/news/aroundthelab/2012/Aug/083012_goldstein.html

Anonymous said...

B students could only attract C student cronies.

Anonymous said...

Does Goldstein have any love for Tomas or his sycophants? heck no.

Anonymous said...

Then why did he promote them.

Anonymous said...

Certainly not out any like or respect for the guy and his abilities.

Anonymous said...

You have a number of things that is causing this persistent problem at the lab, and perhaps even at LANL. There is no really good mechanism for removing managers that are poorly performing or just okay. They certainly don't deserve the kind of benefits that they are receiving for being "just okay." Really good management candidates tend to simply leave since they can't wait for someone to die before a spot opens up for them to enter into the management track. And even very bad managers are able to stay on for a very long time until retirement age. Simply put, this is not a culture that promotes the development of "good managers." All the wrong incentives are there. Maybe Parney will fix it. I doubt it. Most of these people would NEVER be able to survive in a competitive industry environment.

Anonymous said...

I would dare some of these managers to actually get very prestigious c-suite positions at fortune 500 companies. The ones who can will. The rest have the pleasure of finding ways to delude themselves into thinking that they are "good managers."

Anonymous said...

Goldstein is an interesting choice. He's extremely smart, perhaps the only individual in Lab management who might be described as an intellectual, and he is widely respected by the scientific staff. As for his replacement, definitely a Tomas dude, and we may now have a situation case of the fox guarding the PLS chickens. But let's keep an open mind and give him a chance to show he's cut from a better cloth.

Anonymous said...

"As for his replacement, definitely a Tomas dude, and we may now have a situation case of the fox guarding the PLS chickens."
If it looks like a duck, it smells like a duck, than it must be a duck. Why take a risk on something you already know the outcome?

Anonymous said...

Oh has it been pretty much decided already, who will take Goldstein's old position? Do tell! Who is it?

Anonymous said...

Glenn Fox (GF) is shown as acting AD on the LLNL organization site. I would see it as a positive move were he to be selected as AD. Definitely better than Tomas. And much smarter.

Would be a nice change to be able to send people to Washington who won't piss off program managers or be thrown out of Forrestal, for example, and be prevented from ever coming back in.

Anonymous said...

If I remember correctly, Glenn has a black belt in one of the martial arts. Tomas has a black belt in Tapas engorgerie and Six-Sigma (the lower end of the tail of the distribution).

Anonymous said...

Would be a nice change to be able to send people to Washington who won't piss off program managers or be thrown out of Forrestal

Such low minimum standards. How sad. Hopefully these pitiful embarassingly pathetic times are behind us with better non-self-deluded people.

Anonymous said...

As for his replacement, definitely a Tomas dude, and we may now have a situation case of the fox guarding the PLS chickens.

Anonymous said...


Ultimately, the main concern is LLNL and LANL have major problems with management and need to change it. Rumors are bad, but I never believe them until I see action and I have seen no action. Things are the same.
My concern is as it was already posted
"Anonymous Anonymous said

So the consensus at LLNL is that employees work in constant fear of retaliation for doing the right thing and honest, hard-working employees are not rewarded but pawns that are used. The best and brightest of Silicon Valley will certainly want to give up their stock options and other work rewards to come work here.

July 25, 2012 6:00 AM"

This is not good. We need solutions ASAP.

August 2, 2012 7:04 AM

Anonymous said...

He can't be that bad if the worst that anyone can say about him is that he is a "tomas boy" fox guarding the PLS chickens.

Anonymous said...

Bill Goldstein will assume the position of acting deputy director for Science and Technology, effective Sept. 1, Director Parney Albright announced Thursday.

Goldstein, currently the associate director of Physical & Life Sciences, replaces Tomas Diaz de la Rubia, who recently left the Laboratory to pursue other opportunities.

"Bill was selected for this position because of his proven scientific leadership abilities, his passion for developing and sustaining science, technology and engineering excellence, and his ability to manage strategically to meet the critical national security missions of the Laboratory," Albright said. "Bill is a respected and trusted scientist and manager among Laboratory employees and senior management, and with key government sponsors and academic and private industry collaborators."

Goldstein's service to the Laboratory spans 27 years and his accomplishments illustrate his strong commitment to supporting major programs within DOE NNSA and Office of Science, National Institutes of Health, Department of Homeland Security, NASA and academia. He has a doctorate in theoretical physics from Columbia University and a bachelor's degree in physics from Swarthmore College. Goldstein is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and he received a DOE Weapons Recognition of Excellence Award in 1994.

In an administrative memo announcing the appointment, Albright said Goldstein will continue to serve as a champion of the Laboratory's scientific and technical programs, and, in this new acting role, will lead the strategic deployment of the Laboratory's science and technology capabilities. "I have asked him to lead and manage the portfolio of world-class S&T activities, taking line responsibility for the ST&E institutional Roadmap portfolio, including the Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program, collaborative research with academia and private industry, and institutional planning activities."

Goldstein also serves as a member of the Laboratory's senior management team and will expand his management scope as a close adviser to the director.

The deputy director for Science and Technology position will be posted and a screening committee will be appointed in the near future to coordinate a search.

In naming Goldstein to acting deputy, Albright also appointed Glenn Fox to acting associate director for Physical & Life Sciences, effective immediately. Fox is currently the leader of the Chemical Sciences Division in PLS and "has outstanding proven qualifications and leadership experience to take on this new acting assignment and strategically interface basic science capabilities with the needs of LLNL programs and various government sponsors," Albright said.

Fox joined the Laboratory in 1992 as a postdoctoral researcher and has held numerous scientific and managerial roles, including director of the Forensic Science Center and deputy associate director for Science and Technology for the Chemistry, Materials, Earth and Life Sciences Directorate. Fox has a doctorate and master's degree in inorganic chemistry from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Lewis and Clark College.

Glenn Fox


Also, to enhance and consolidate economic development and outreach activities, Albright announced the realignment of oversight responsibilities for the Industrial Partnerships Office (IPO). With this realignment, IPO, led by Erik Stenehjem, will report to Buck Koonce, director of Economic Development as will Patrick Dempsey, manager of Strategic Engagements.

"These changes will facilitate strategic economic development activities consistent with the Laboratory's economic outreach priorities," Albright said.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
B students could only attract C student cronies.

September 2, 2012 1:50 PM

Anonymous said...

Ouch. Such brutality in that nugget of truth.

Anonymous said...

A few LLNL division leaders I've run into in recent past are downright incompetent who have no business managing people. One who even described a reason for going into line management because they didn't feel they were not top-notch scientists in their fields. It was hard not to blurt out that they were not even close to being what I would consider analytically capable.

But it's always interesting to see these types around, though I have to be ever vigilant and make sure they don't slip through any cracks and into my organization. That lab is probably the right place for them. Why spoil other outside organizations when the rot can be left in concentrated form in one place...

Anonymous said...

B students could only attract C student cronies.

September 2, 2012 1:50 PM

Some might say that is the LANL STE approach.

Anonymous said...

If Glenn manages to not get escorted out of Forrestal, he will have gone some way to showing that he is better than Tomas in the role of AD.

Anonymous said...

Are were not all forgetting something?
The "A" team has long since gone. It's not a matter of who replaces Goldstein,it's who's left that will do the least damage.

Anonymous said...

Yes. The selection could have been much worse though one would hope to have had the luxury to pick the cream of the crop of top notch candidates. The thought of having top notch management is unrealistic in this day and age of a shrinking NWC and a lab that has not diversified as much as it should have in the last decade. Just hope for a slow institutional death and keep the cycle of rot and depravity contained. Good people only need to wait and hope to reach retirement relatively unscathed.

Anonymous said...

I still see no logical reason for there to be a DD-ST. DOE (LSO) has never recognized the position in the org charts they hang on their walls in B311. Why not go back to having a S&T PAD, with the ADs for ENG, COMP and PLS working for the S&T PAD, like it was proposed in the contract. Just think of how much money we would save at LLNL!

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