Nancy Grossman named new ES&H director

Nancy Grossman

Nancy Grossman will succeed Bill Griffing as head of the laboratory’s ES&H Section.

Grossman (pronounced grawsman) officially took over the position on Dec. 1, but will transition into the role during the few months as she finishes up work on her current projects, including her role as associate project manager for NOvA.

Griffing, who plans to retire later this year after nearly 13 years as the laboratory’s ES&H director, sees Grossman as an ideal successor, particularly as the laboratory plans its future projects.

“I’m very excited about Nancy’s appointment as head of ES&H,” said Fermilab Director Pier Oddone. “She follows a strong path Griff set overseeing the transition to a safety culture that we’re very proud of at Fermilab. I look forward to her taking it to the next level.”

Grossman has acquired a wide range of skills during her 15 years at Fermilab . Her first permanent position at the laboratory was as a radiation physicist in ES&H Section. As part of that role, she was the radiation safety officer for the PET project. She also served as liaison between ES&H and AD and performed the section’s quality assurance. Grossman left ES&H in 1998 to work as a level 3 manager on the NuMI neutrino project. She was later promoted to deputy project manager on the beamline, and was heavily involved in designing shielding for that experiment. She also has management experience with the MINERvA and SNuMI projects.

Bill Griffing

“Nancy has experience in working with our funding agency. She also has an understanding and appreciation for the science that goes on here. The tendency of most safety professionals is to quickly reject any proposals that they think are too risky from a safety perspective,” Griffing said. “I feel that Nancy will work with her staff and project teams to find acceptable solutions for getting the work done safely and with the least environmental impact.”

No matter which project she was working on, Grossman has always kept safety a priority, Griffing added.

That makes her a good replacement for Griffing who has seen the laboratory’s injury rate drop roughly sevenfold since his appointment as ES&H director in 1996.

Grossman hopes to continue to incorporate ES&H further into Fermilab’s culture. She initially plans to improve access to ES&H resources and guidance. Grossman also wants to connect with people at various levels of the laboratory, to see what resources they need to integrate safety into their departments or divisions.

“I believe very strongly in communication and team work,” she said.

She looks forward to playing a larger role as the laboratory continues to determine its future.

“I look forward to providing another viewpoint to laboratory management,” she said. “The future of the laboratory is in big projects and I am very familiar with managing big projects.”

-- Rhianna Wisniewski