NRC Announces Senior Management Selections

On May 3, 2018, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) announced the following senior management selections in the Office of New Reactors (NRO), the Office Nuclear Regulatory Research (RES), the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) and the Office of Commission Appellate Adjudication (OCAA):

  •   Office of New Reactors:  Frederick Brown will become Director of NRO, effective immediately.  Brown, whose permanent position was Deputy Executive Director for Materials, Waste, Research, State, Tribal, Compliance, Administration, and Human Capital Programs, has been serving as the NRO Acting Director.  He joined the NRC in 1994, working in Region III, having served in both resident and senior resident inspector positions.  After joining the Senior Executive Service (SES), Brown held positions in NRO and NRR, including Director of the Division of Inspection and Regional Support. He worked in Region II as the Deputy Regional Administrator for Construction and has worked in various SES positions in the Office of the Executive Director for Operations and the Office of the Chief Information Officer.  Before joining the NRC, Brown worked as an engineer, supervisor, and manager at California’s Mare Island Naval Shipyard.  He holds a Bachelor of Science degree, with a double major from the United States Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, New York.
  •   Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research:  Effective July 3, 2018, Raymond Furstenau will become Director of RES, following the retirement of Mike Weber.  Furstenau will transition to the NRC later this month from his current SES position at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), where he serves as Associate Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary and Central Technical Authority of the Office of Nuclear Energy.  He has previously served as the Chief of Nuclear Safety for the Under Secretary of Energy.  Prior to his senior leadership positions at DOE, Furstenau worked in various roles at the DOE Idaho Operations Office for more than 25 years, providing federal oversight of nuclear energy and national security research programs and safety oversight of nuclear facility operations at the Idaho National Laboratory.  He also served in the military on active duty as an officer in the Army Finance Corps and in the Army Reserve.  Furstenau holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Science and Engineering from the U.S. Military Academy and a Master of Science degree in Nuclear Science and Engineering from Idaho State University.
  •   Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation:  Ho Nieh will become Director of NRR in August.  Nieh, a member of the SES, will return to the NRC this summer from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, where he serves as the Director of the Division of Nuclear Safety Technology and Regulation at the Nuclear Energy Agency.  He began his NRC career in 1997 as an engineer in Region I, joining the agency after serving in various engineering positions at the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory.  At the NRC, Nieh worked as a resident and senior resident inspector before joining the newly created Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response in 2003.  He has also served in various management positions in NRR, including as Director of the Division of Inspection and Regional Support, as well as Director of the Division of Reactor Projects.  Additionally, Nieh was assigned to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Department of Nuclear Safety and Security.  He also served as Chief of Staff to NRC Commissioner Bill Ostendorff.  He graduated from the U.S. Naval Nuclear Power School and holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Marine Engineering from the State University of New York Maritime College and a Master of Business Administration from Johns Hopkins University.
  •   Office of Commission Appellate Adjudication:  Effective June 24, 2018, Catherine Scott will become Director of OCAA.  She most recently served in the Office of the General Counsel (OGC) in the position of Assistant General Counsel for Operating Reactors from 2016 to the present and for Materials Litigation and Enforcement from 2008 to 2016.  She was appointed to the Committee to Review Generic Requirements in 2017.  Scott also served as a legal assistant to NRC Commissioner Peter Lyons from 2005 to 2008.  In 2001, she was assigned a detail position to the Committee on Energy and Commerce in the U.S. House of Representatives.  Scott began her career as an attorney in the Reactor Programs division in OGC.  She is a graduate of Boston University and Suffolk University Law School.

For additional information, please contact the NRC Office of Public Affairs at (301) 415-8200.