Owendoff promoted to Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Office of Environmental Management

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced that James M. Owendoff has been promoted to Principal Deputy
Assistant Secretary in the Office of Environmental Management.

Owendoff served as a Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary in the Office of Environmental Management (EM) since January
2010. Owendoff will also serve as the Acting Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management until the role is filled.

As one of his first actions, Owendoff plans to launch a full EM program review aiming to improve the effectiveness and
implementation of the nuclear legacy waste cleanup program.

“I am honored to again serve in this leadership role for the Office of Environmental Management,” Owendoff said. “Our review will help to focus the Department’s cleanup efforts by emphasizing more timely decisions on some of our more complex cleanup challenges. This will go a long way toward putting the program on the path to safely and successfully achieving our cleanup mission sooner and at less cost to taxpayers.”

Owendoff served in various roles at the Office of Environmental Management prior to accepting this promotion, including Acting Assistant Secretary, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Chief Operations Officer, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Environmental Restoration, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Science and Technology and Chief Office of Project Recovery. He also served in the Department of Energy’s Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management as the Associate Director for Integration.

Prior to joining DOE, Owendoff served in the Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Environmental Security and as Chief of the Air Force Environmental Restoration Division. In June 1968, Owendoff was commissioned in the U.S. Air Force as a 2nd Lieutenant.