Secretary Granholm Celebrates New Secretary’s Honor Awards Recipients

In February 2024, 15 distinguished Department of Energy employees were presented with the Secretary of Energy Excellence Award.  

The Secretary of Energy’s Excellence Award is bestowed on individuals with a singular accomplishment that demonstrates a high level of performance and outstanding leadership in public service. The individual’s overall achievement must be substantial, outside the normal course of duty, and significantly benefit the Department’s mission and our nation. 

The annual Secretary’s Honor Awards are among the highest forms of internal recognition DOE’s Federal and contractor employees can receive and recognize those who go above and beyond in service to the country and to make lasting impacts on the Department and the country. 

Erin S. Moore, Chief Human Capital Officer, Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer 

Honored for her exemplary efforts to recruit top talent to the Department, working tirelessly to streamline DOE’s hiring practices, she’s helped reduce the time-to-hire by 42%, and integral to launching and recruiting the Clean Energy Corps 

Bruce Martin, Financial Manager, Savannah River Site, Office of Environmental Management 

Honored for his exceptional stewardship of federal funding, innovative pension strategy at DOE’s Savannah River Site has protected workers’ financial futures while saving the American taxpayer more than $400 million to date.  

Cynthia T. Strowbridge, Lead Contract Specialist, Savannah River Site, Office of Environmental Management 

Honored for being instrumental in negotiating and administering the Integrated Mission Completion Contract and helping to facilitate the award of task orders worth over $1.8 billion at DOE’s Savannah River Site.  

Samantha N. Ruiz, Chief of Staff, Office of Energy Justice and Equity 

Honored for her work helping design and implement the Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit Program, or 48(e), and one of the most significant tax incentives in U.S. history to promote clean energy investments, under President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.  

Rizwan A. Shah, Organizational Culture Advisor, Office of Environment, Health, Safety, and Security 

Honored for his support to the leadership team at the Los Alamos National Lab (LANL) advanced teamwork, communication, and productivity within and between divisions. Through his efforts, the LANL team has enhanced their activities, pit production, and coordination of the facility's vast construction and equipment upgrades. 

Brian J. Lally, Assistant General Counsel Technology Transfer & Intellectual Property, Office of the General Counsel 

Honored for co-leading DOE’s Working Group on Innovative Funding Mechanisms and helped develop the Department's first-ever Partnership Intermediary Agreement Pilot. His efforts are making it easier for small businesses, universities, and other non-traditional partners to work with DOE. 

Ann McManamon, Hydrologist, Bonneville Power Administration 

Honored for her cutting-edge work at the helm of weather and streamflow forecasts in the 1990s, she continues to lead the field today with the forecast methodology she brought to Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) to manage risk — a method that has been adopted across the region for effective water management of the Columbia River system. 

Bart McManus, Electrical Engineer, Bonneville Power Administration 

Honored for his achievements as an Electrical Engineer with Bonneville Power Administration in Automatic Generation Control, Bart has advanced the electric utility industry in the Pacific Northwest and across the country. He is also helping write the script for how to integrate renewable resources into the grid, all while ensuring continuous, reliable power. 

Aaron C. Siemers, Environmental Physical Scientist, Bonneville Power Administration 

Honored for his ingenuity as an Environmental Physical Scientist that has helped Bonneville Power Administration prevent blackouts from overgrown vegetation while also remaining in environmental compliance. Because of his efforts, there are no more 100 day wait times to trim trees—something that will make a massive difference in people’s lives.   

Howard E. Dickenson, Deputy Director for Operations and Management, Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations 

Honored for leading the business operations of OCED and building a team of 160 employees under the program office in less than a year. His work ensures we can scale the clean energy technologies we’ll need to save the planet and save Americans their hard-earned money.  

Sarah B. Zaleski, Formerly a Program Manager, Office of State and Community Energy Programs  

Honored for her work in DOE’s Office of State and Community Energy Programs. She built the Renew America’s Schools Team and drew more than 1,000 funding applicants —over than 70 times what we’d originally planned for. Sarah also led development of an environmental justice mapping tool specific to schools.  

Scott R. Lund, Strategic Utility Industry Restructuring Advisor, Desert Southwest Regional Office, Western Area Power Administration 

Honored for his leadership that has helped expand the Sun Zia project—bringing renewable energy online and lowering costs for rate payers in the Desert Southwest. In building out our transmission infrastructure, he’s tackling one of the biggest challenges to our clean energy future.  

Amy R. Sweeney, Director, Office of Regulation, Analysis, and Engagement, Office of Resource Sustainability, Office Fossil Energy and Carbon Management 

Honored for her environmental and regulatory expertise on all things natural gas has positioned DOE to take important regulatory actions on liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, methane emissions mitigation, and decarbonization of the natural gas supply chain.   

Mark H. Dickinson, Director, Acquisition Division, Office of the Deputy Administrator for Naval Reactors, NNSA 

Honored for modernizing acquisition planning, procurement, and administration systems for our nuclear industrial base. He has identified choke points and capacity constraints across 400 nuclear propulsion plant vendors, while leading our efforts to proactively manage the impact of foreign sourcing. Mark’s determination and business insight were also key to accelerating production of the Nation's foremost shipbuilding priority—the COLUMBIA Class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine. 

Kirk W. Waldron, Nuclear Engineer, Office of the Deputy Administrator for Naval Reactors, NNSA 

Honored for his technical expertise, willingness to challenge the status quo and re-evaluate technical requirements were instrumental in redelivering the USS George Washington to the United States Navy. Mr. Waldron has shown exceptional leadership by providing direct deck plate support by frequently traveling to the George Washington to monitor progress, meet with the project team, and remove obstacles. 

➡️ Click here to view more photos from the Secretary's Honor Awards ceremony.