Nuclear Energy Institute announces leadership changes

The District of Columbia-based Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) announced last week several major changes to its leadership.

John Kotek joined NEI as the organization’s vice president for policy development and public affairs. Beverly Marshall, acting vice president of governmental affairs, will be promoted to the position permanently. Anthony Pietrangelo, NEI’s senior vice president and chief nuclear officer, announced his retirement.

Kotek served as acting assistant secretary in the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy
beginning in July 2015. He became principal deputy assistant secretary in DOE’s nuclear energy office in January 2015. Prior to serving as principal deputy assistant secretary, Kotek worked as managing partner of the Boise, Idaho office of public affairs and strategic communications consulting company, Gallatin Public Affairs. Kotek was deputy manager of DOE’s Idaho Operations Office from 2003-2006. Before joining DOE, he worked as the Generation IV and nuclear-hydrogen programs manager at Argonne National Laboratory.

“This is an exciting time to re-enter the commercial sector and join the NEI team,” Kotek said. “This is a particularly important time to advance solutions that preserve existing nuclear power plants and galvanize resources to commercialize the advanced technologies that will cement nuclear energy’s beneficial role for generations to come.”

Prior to joining NEI, Marshall managed Duke Energy’s Washington D.C. office and served as the company’s chief liaison with Congress as Duke Energy’s vice president of federal policy and government affairs.

“In Washington, D.C., the nuclear energy industry is presented with the opportunity to be recognized as part of the nation’s critical infrastructure,” Marshall said. “At the state level, it’s already clear that nuclear energy will be front and center on the energy and environmental agenda in several legislatures.”

Pietrangelo worked in the nuclear energy industry for 35 years. He worked with NEI and its predecessor organizations for 28 years. As chief nuclear officer, he provided leadership on technical and regulatory issues. He played an important role in implementing rules created from the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi incident in Japan. Prior to his work with NEI, he was a project engineer for nuclear power plants with Westinghouse Electric Corp.

“Tony Pietrangelo has done a tremendous job leading the technical and regulatory focused activities at the Nuclear Energy Institute, and his contributions to the overall safety and operational effectiveness of U.S. nuclear power plants are significant.” Maria Korsnick, NEI’s president and chief executive officer, said. “He will be missed by his many friends and colleagues at NEI and throughout the industry. We wish him and his family members nothing but the best.”

The new leadership will play a role in NEI’s efforts to integrate its government relations, policy and communications sectors into a new external affairs division.