Laura Wilkerson is the Chief Engineer for the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. In this role, she is responsible for identifying solutions to some of the biggest technical challenges facing cleanup at the Y-12 National Security Complex (Y-12) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).

Prior to serving as the organization's chief engineer, she was OREM's Deputy Manager oversees the daily operations needed to perform the organization’s environmental cleanup and stewardship, decontamination and decommissioning activities, waste processing and management, surveillance and maintenance programs, and procurement and contract functions.

Previously, as the Director of the Planning and Execution Division, she oversaw all planning and execution activities related to the cleanup at Oak Ridge’s three primary sites—the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP), Y-12, and ORNL.

She has also served as a Portfolio Federal Project Director that was responsible for overseeing cleanup and waste management activities at Y-12 and for disposition of the Oak Ridge transuranic waste inventory. She also served as EM’s Portfolio Federal Project Director for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funded projects at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Y-12 directing the successful completion of more than 30 clean-up and remediation projects with a $630 million budget. She was also Deputy Federal Project Director for the Oak Ridge Uranium-233 Disposition Project.

Laura began her career at the ORNL DOE Site Office as a Program Manager for facilities and infrastructure programs. She later served as Program Manager in the Reindustrialization Program, an innovative effort to convert a former DOE Gaseous Diffusion Plant into a private sector industrial park. Prior to joining the OREM Program she served as Senior Technical Advisor to the Manager of Oak Ridge Operations and to the Assistant Manager for Oak Ridge Nuclear Energy Programs.

Laura has more than 30 years of experience directing and managing technical programs and projects for DOE. She is a certified Level III Contracting Officer’s Representative and Level II Federal Project Director and holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in industrial engineering. She is also qualified as a Senior Technical Safety Manager (STSM) under the DOE Technical Qualification Program.