This is one of several interviews in a series about the changes we can expect at the Lab during 2025.

At the core of Berkeley Lab is the concept of working, and succeeding in teams. That is exactly what Rich Reisinger and Sam Phillips, Berkeley Lab’s Regional Operations Managers (ROMs), envision as their roles within the Facilities Division. As ROMs, they each lead a dedicated Facilities team supporting specific regions of the Lab and working closely with research partners to keep operations running smoothly. Think of them as the bridge between Facilities and Science – they make sure researchers have what they need, when they need it while keeping Lab buildings and systems in top shape. Rich and Sam envision the regional approach as a way to build stronger partnerships with the scientific community and lead to more responsive, efficient facility operations.

 


 

What is your role at the Lab? How do you support the Lab’s mission?

Richard Reisinger: I think the easiest way to describe it is that we’re the link between the science programs and our regional Facilities teams. We meet with our matrixed team daily and on a recurring basis with different science programs to understand their long-term goals. We can steer our matrixed team to those goals and support them in a better way by understanding their needs and priorities. In essence, as Regional Operations Managers (ROMs), we’re that bridge between the programs and regional teams, able to speak on behalf of both.

Sam Phillips: Regional Operations Managers ensure business operations align with our science partners’ overall goals and strategies. We oversee daily operations across multiple branches – planning, Facilities Area Managers (FAMs), Planning, engineering, subcontracts, and safety. Our responsibilities include monitoring performance, implementing policies, and interpreting procedures for our team. When questions arise about processes like minor maintenance, we guide staff back to established procedures. We also coordinate operations and resolve challenges, whether they’re related to funding, resource constraints, or other operational issues.

Rich: We’re essentially ambassadors to every group. That’s what makes this job enjoyable – we get to speak on behalf of everyone.

 

As ROMs, what are your goals for 2025? What does success look like?

Rich: My goals for 2025 focus on two main areas. First, from a Facilities perspective, we need to deliver our work faster, at a lower cost, and with better quality. Second, I want the Region team to truly understand the science happening in our buildings. When we walk through spaces and see firsthand how our work impacts research programs, it changes how we prioritize and approach tasks. For example, understanding that an exhaust fan serves critical hood operations makes the team more invested in timely repairs. Take East Canyon for example, I have a good big-picture understanding of activities in the East Canyon, but if I had more specific knowledge it would be incredibly helpful when we triage work in the mornings.

Sam: Rich summarized it well. We also have specific regional goals. We were given two regional goals by [Facilities Division Director] Brent Henderson. One is to reduce the overall work backlog by 15%, and the second is to improve overall work order cycle time to 60 days, which is a 20% improvement from where the cycle time is right now.

Rich: We also need to take the time to speak with our partners from the Science community and explain why certain things take so long or are so expensive. We want to help them understand that we’re setting legitimate and realistic expectations. I think those communications that we have and those relationships that Sam and I are building make the challenges a little easier to swallow.

Sam: Communicating at several different levels is a part of the role. Every conversation helps us understand and align with the research priorities as the work trickles down to our teams. As an example, we dealt with an issue in Building 88 this fall with the Low Connectivity Water (LCW) pumps. From that work, I now meet regularly with Larry Phair, Program Manager for the 88-inch cyclotron, so we can connect and get ahead of the strategic plans for his team.

 

How will you address the challenges of the work in 2025?

Sam: I have this idea to have the whole regional team walk a space with a lab PI. We’ll put our phones on silent unless there’s a major emergency, and everybody’s just going to listen and ask questions like ‘What do you do?’

I did a test walk with one of the FAMs in November. Just listening to the PI, I learned so many things we could do better. It really helps me understand how all our roles work together and that we’re all on the same team. It kind of sums up what Rich was saying—we’re the ones trying to think of ways to align what our teams do with the science mission. Ultimately, the goal is to work flawlessly.

Something that I think will help is educating our people, to help them see the conversations we have with researchers and our perspective. If they can see that, they can then go back into the shops and share how much their own work helps science. I want to break down those little vacuums that keep us isolated.

Richard: I think the other part, too, is Sam and I being available to our science program partners on a regular basis. Being that face for them, being the person that they feel confident in when they reach out and say, “Hey, I’m having an issue.” We have to be accountable and own that issue and make sure that that job doesn’t fall through the cracks. It gets done, and it gets done in a timely manner.

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