Description

Join us at ETEC in-person or virtually on Friday, August 15, 2025, at 7:30am to hear from Mary Helen Hitson, Y-12 Field Office Manager, NNSA; Mike Pearson, Director of the NNSA Y-12 Acquisition and Project Management Office and Uranium Processing Facility Project Federal Project Director; and Rich Tighe, President & CEO, Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS). 

Please see below for more information about the program and the speaker's bios. 

No registration is necessary for in-person attendance.

Register in advance for the VIRTUAL #ETEConline meeting here: https://tennessee.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUrd-CgrDMiHNTsDsHqH0FyubCh2ys57LzH#/registration 

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Mary Helen Hitson 

Y-12 Field Office Manager 

National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Mary Helen Hitson serves as the Manager of NNSA’s Y-12 Field Office (YFO), a position she has held since August 2024. She is responsible for the direction of NNSA programs, projects, safety, security, quality, and administrative functions and activities at the Y-12 National Security Complex (Y-12).

Previously, Ms. Hitson served as Deputy Field Office Manager and Chief Operating Officer at YFO and its predecessor organization. She was responsible for overall management and the executive direction of administrative functions, technical programs, projects, and activities performed at Y-12 while working in partnership with Pantex Plant colleagues to provide management direction and oversight of both plants.

Ms. Hitson has more than two decades of federal service as a Management Analyst, Information Services Analyst, Information Security Specialist, Supervisory Security Specialist, Program Manager, and Physical Scientist. She has had a broad range of responsibilities, including supervisory and serving as the subject matter expert in a variety of disciplines across Pantex and Y-12. 

Ms. Hitson earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Carson-Newman University.

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Mike Pearson

Director of the NNSA Y-12 Acquisition and Project Management Office and Uranium Processing Facility Project Federal Project Director

National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) | U.S. Department of Energy

Michael Pearson is a member of the Federal Senior Executive Service (SES) and has over 20 years of engineering experience with a strong project and program management background in facilities construction and management.  He joined the Uranium Processing Facility Project in 2017 and currently serves as the Director of the Y-12 Acquisition and Project Management Office and as the UPF Federal Project Director.

He previously served as the Deputy UPF Federal Project Director and as Technical Director ensuring the successful monitoring and execution of Engineering, Construction and Environmental, Safety, and Health, Quality Assurance and Procurement, and Operations, Safeguards and Security functional requirements. 

Prior to joining the Y-12 APMO team, Pearson served in increasing positions of responsibility for the Department of Defense (DoD) with his last position being the Deputy Operations Officer for the Naval Facilities Engineering Command in Naples, Italy, ensuring the successful execution of over $700M annually in facilities construction, planning, operations, and maintenance programs supporting NATO, other Federal agencies, and various other DoD supported commands operating throughout Europe, Africa, and Southwest Asia.  He received an Employee of the Year award and a Meritorious Civilian Service Award during his time in Naples.

Pearson is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Georgia and is a Project Management Professional.  He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from The University of Alabama, and a Master of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Louisville. Additionally, he is a graduate of DoDs LOGTECH Program, receiving both a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Indiana and a Certificate in Supply Chain Management from the University of North Carolina.

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Rich Tighe

President & CEO

Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS Y-12)

Richard (Rich) Tighe is president and chief executive officer of Consolidated Nuclear Security, the Bechtel led management and operating contractor for the Y‑12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, with a workforce of approximately 9,500.

Tighe (pronounced “tie”) joined CNS in September 2022, and led the company through the separation of the Pantex Plant from CNS’s management and operating contract. Before the separation, Tighe led a combined 13,500 employees through significant growth and record performance. As the National Nuclear Security Administration mission and project scope grew at the sites, CNS met all deliverables to the military under Tighe’s leadership. Additionally, during his tenure, CNS added more than 1,500 team members, including engineers, scientists, professional staff, and craft workers, and both sites improved safety performance, achieving more than 12.6 million consecutive hours without a lost time injury. Under Tighe’s leadership, CNS has been awarded a 2‑year contract extension at Y‑12.

Before joining CNS, Tighe served for nearly 4 years as president and general manager of National Aerospace Solutions (NAS), the Bechtel‑led test operations and sustainment contractor for the Arnold Engineering Development Complex at Arnold Air Force Base near Tullahoma, Tennessee. He also was manager of strategy, marketing, and business development for Bechtel’s Nuclear, Security, and Environmental global business unit, an $8 billion business. He served as the NS&E representative to the Bechtel Group Marketing and Business Development Committee and represented Bechtel on the board of managers for NAS and Kwajalein Range Services.

Tighe joined Bechtel in 2006 as marketing and business development manager; he was elected principal vice president in 2016 and senior vice president in 2023.

Before his service with Bechtel, Tighe worked for Lockheed Martin at the Nevada Test Site for more than a decade, holding several scientific and management posts and ultimately advancing to assistant general manager for high‑hazard test and evaluation.

Tighe was a postdoctoral fellow in the Nuclear Science Division of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory at the University of California. He earned a Ph.D. in experimental nuclear physics from the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, and a B.S. in physics from Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa.

This month's ETEC Friday Morning Meeting Series are sponsored by Materials and Chemistry Laboratory, Inc.