North American Young Generation in Nuclear (NAYGN) is pleased to announce that Anthony (Tony) Pietrangelo, Senior Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officers for the Nuclear Energy Institute has been awarded the 2015 George Hairston Visionary Leadership Award.

“Mr. Pietrangelo’s backing to the organization has ranged from strategic insights to innovation support” said Felix Meissner, President of NAYGN. In 2014, NAYGN conceptualized an idea for an innovative & evolutionary KT&R program for the nuclear energy industry. The Hub, a video based education system was born out of a Shark Tank style innovation competition. “Tony whole heartedly encouraged this initiative, placing it strategically in front of our industry’s technical steering committee, where it earned full support. Since this key presentation, a steering committee has been formed, allowing The Hub to progress beyond an idea and towards an achievable reality.”

In his tenure at NEI, Tony has led industry efforts in areas including regulatory guidance on configuration risk management, shutdown/outage management, risk-informed, performance-based regulation, and various other regulatory and licensing issues. He was instrumental in leading industry efforts on applying risk insights to the Regulatory Oversight Process Mitigating Systems Performance Index.

“Tony’s commitment to the young generation of employees is highly valued by young professionals across North America and his peers in the nuclear industry” says Meissner. “He is a true asset for NAYGN’s current and future members.”

The George Hairston Visionary Leadership Award was established in 2005 to honor W. George Hairston, the President and CEO of Southern Nuclear, an energetic and vocal supporter of the organization. The award recognizes the contributions of executives in the nuclear industry that go above and beyond in their support of NAYGN.

Previous recipients of this award include:
2005 W. George Hairston, Southern Nuclear Operating Company
2007 Angie Howard, Nuclear Energy Institute
2008 Dr. Gustavo Alonso, National Institute of Nuclear Research
2011 Christopher Crane, Exelon Corporation
2012 Ross Ridenoure, Parsons
2013 James Scarola, Duke Energy
2014 Susan Landahl, Exelon Corporation

NAYGN is a professional society with over 13,000 members and 110+ local chapters with a vision to Develop Leaders to Energize the Future of Nuclear. They provide opportunities for a young generation of nuclear enthusiasts to develop leadership and professional skills, create life-long connections, engage and inform the public, and inspire today’s nuclear technology professionals to meet the challenges of the 21st century.