Christine Gelles, an environmental mangement (EM) executive whose work contributed to a range of waste management accomplishments over more than 20 years at the Department of Energy. She is currently the corporate vice president and chief strategy officer at the energy and environmental consulting firm Longenecker and Associates.
She has served as Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Waste Management, a post whose portfolio includes policy and resources for EM’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the Los Alamos and Idaho cleanup sites, and small sites under the EM umbrella.
Her core skills include: strategic program planning, policy development and problem solving; project planning, management, budget formulation, execution and review; program management and assessment; comprehensive understanding of environmental laws, regulations and policies, as well as federal budgetary and accounting policy; and extensive knowledge and understanding of the Department of Energy’s waste management and nuclear materials management programs.
Gelles has testified before the US Congress and has provided many briefings to members of Congress, their staff, and senior officials within U.S. Government. She is experienced in domestic and international cooperative and interagency efforts, including serving as Chairperson of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA’s) PRISM project (Practical Implementation of Safety Case Methodology on Near Surface Disposal Facilities), Chairperson of IAEA’s CIDER project (Constraints in Decommissioning and Environmental Remediation) and providing subject matter expertise as a consultant on specific IAEA waste related efforts.