By: John Gilleland, Chief Technology Officer
As an enterprise, TerraPower has reached many milestones this year. Among them, we’re introducing organizational changes that will help us achieve the greatest potential for our offerings in the next three to five years.
A good leader recruits and manages professionals whose skills exceed theirs. Sometimes leading means putting someone else in charge. TerraPower’s business continues to focus on advancing the traveling wave reactor (TWR) and developing new, innovative technologies to solve the world’s most pressing problems. We’re now at a point where we need to evolve our culture, commercialize our technology and prepare to scale. This stage in our business evolution requires a transition from a founding, entrepreneurial Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to a highly experienced business executive.
To accomplish these goals, I am moving to the role of Chief Technical Officer (CTO). I will focus on long-term development, working to expand product capabilities and to de-risk disruptive technologies.
I’m excited to announce that Lee McIntire, former Chairman and CEO of CH2M HILL, has joined TerraPower as CEO. Lee has deep experience in leading and growing large multi-billion dollar international companies. Under his leadership, TerraPower plans to advance the TWR into the execution phase, secure customers for the technology and identify product integration opportunities – while supporting the company’s pipeline of new ideas.
The evolution of TerraPower’s senior leadership team reflects the company’s readiness to expand with increased demand for our technology solutions. The first stage of our transition occurred earlier this year, when we brought Chris Levesque on board as President to manage our overall operations. The addition of Lee accelerates our efforts to move the TWR from a research and development project to a fully marketable nuclear reactor.
Civilian nuclear offers a puzzle with ever-changing pieces, but we have an interconnected team committed to solving big problems. As TerraPower continues to evolve, we remain committed to developing new, breakthrough energy ideas to raise living standards around the world. Our growth this year – both in terms of staff and reach – reflects a bright future for TerraPower as the nuclear energy technology company its founders imagined. Our focused and talented team will help TerraPower to successfully commercialize and deploy innovative technologies.
