2024 User Group Agenda

Blake Wiggins

VP Professional Services

NextAxiom Technology, Inc.

Blake Wiggins has spent 30+ years supporting nuclear & utilities worldwide. For 25 years he has focused on Enterprise Asset Management Software and for 5 years has worked in APM and Value Based Maintenance

Dr. Ahmad Al Rashdan is a senior research and development scientist at INL and is currently the principal investigator of several efforts for the Department of Energy (DOE) Light Water Reactor Sustainability program. He is also the sensors integration lead for the DOE Advanced Sensors and Instrumentation program. Dr. Al Rashdan holds a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from Texas A&M University, an M.Sc. in information technology and automation systems from Esslingen University of Applied Science in Germany, and a B.Sc. in mechanical engineering from Jordan University of Science and Technology.

He has more than 18 years of industrial and research experience in automation, instrumentation, and control, including experience at INL, Asea Brown Boveri, Texas A&M University, the International Atomic Energy Agency, Daimler Chrysler-Mercedes Group, and Fraunhofer Institute for Production and Automation. His experience includes automated work processes using AI methods and advanced analytics, online condition monitoring of nuclear systems, control systems design and development, and automated modeling and simulation.

Dr. Al Rashdan is an active contributor to and co-organizer of several professional events and scientific conferences. He has authored or co-authored more than 90 technical reports and journal papers and nine patent awards and applications. He is an active reviewer for several nuclear energy and IEEE journals as well as many DOE grants. Dr. Al Rashdan is the recipient of several recognition and funding awards, including a recent 2022 R&D 100 award and a recent INL lab director award for exceptional engineering achievement. He is a senior member of the IEEE and a member of the American Nuclear Society (ANS).

He serves on the ANSI’s United States National Committee Technical Advisory Group and is part of the working group responsible for developing the International Electrotechnical Commission standard on AI in the nuclear industry. Dr. Al Rashdan is also a member of the ANS Large Light Water Reactor Consensus Committee and is leading an effort to establish an ANS ad-hoc standards committee on AI for nuclear.

Elan Feagin

VP Electric Technology

Southern Company

Elan Feagin is Vice President, Electric Technology Solutions. In this role, Elan is responsible for all aspects of the strategic delivery of technology solutions that support Southern Company’s electric business functions including Power Delivery, Customer Service & Marketing, Southern Nuclear, Southern Power, Generation, and Power Secure. Elan leads a team of talented technology professionals who join with business partners to deliver and support technology that is building the future of energy.

Elan began her career at Southern as a co-op in Employee Information Systems. She worked for many years as a software developer supporting business solutions. Elan has worked in the Technology Organization for the last 18 years and has 17 years of leadership experience.

Elan holds a BS in computer science from Auburn University. She is a member of the 100+ Women Strong organization associated with Auburn which attracts and retains female talent in engineering programs.

Elan is a native of Birmingham, Alabama, and lives there with her husband, Mark. They enjoy spending time with their family, serving their community and traveling.

Henry graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 2019. He majored in Mechanical Engineering and Minored in Industrial Design. Henry has been a process engineer at Y12 for four years and has been supporting the Smart Electronic Procedures project for about a year and a half. His main support to the project has been in converting some of the processes and rethinking how we can perform these tasks with the addition of the new software.

Tanya Hamilton

President

Agile Performance Solutions, LLC

Tanya Hamilton is the President, of Agile Performance Solutions. With over thirty years of experience in commercial nuclear operations, she has led improvements in safety, reliability, cost and staff development for the Duke Energy nuclear generation fleet and provide ongoing consultation services for North American nuclear operators, governmental energy advisory councils and related academic oversight committees.

Tanya is the recipient of the Bowman Leadership Award and inductee in the Alumni Hall of Fame for North Carolina State University.

Josh Hinson

Manager, Project Management

Southern Co

Josh Hinson holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Alabama. After working for several years as a Reliability Engineering in the manufacturing industry, Josh started as a Reliability Engineer at SNC in 2010.

Over the last 14 years, Josh has worked in areas of increasing responsibility in Engineering, Regulatory Affairs and Projects. Josh has served as the chair of the industry Preventive Maintenance Working Group as well as chair of the industry Equipment Reliability Working Group. Josh has served as the Project Manager and/or leader of numerous technology implementations during his tenure at SNC.

Dennis Spielman

Principal Digital Consultant

Cohesive Group

Dennis Spielman is a Principal Digital Consultant with Cohesive specializing in digital twin solution development and digital transformation strategies. He has 24 years nuclear experience starting with the US Navy. Dennis attained an SRO license for the Penn State research reactor. He fulfilled the Reactor Engineer role at the Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory for the operating carrier fleet.

Dennis has been a member of the Vogtle 3&4 team for 13 years supporting roles as Operations instructor, Simulator Supervisor, Digital I&C and HFE Supervisor, Digital Engineering Manager, Project Manager, and Initial Test Program Manager.

He has a Bachelors and master’s degrees in Nuclear Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University

Sharon Gray

IT Support Manager

Southern Company

Sharon Gray is an IT Support Manager in the Nuclear Technology Solutions Applications Portfolio at Southern Company Services. In this role, Sharon is responsible for managing and representing SNC’s interest relative to all aspects of lifecycle for IT infrastructure, applications, desktop software, personal computing devices, and telecommunications. In addition, she ensures the successful implementation of SNC technology projects and initiatives.

Sharon began her career with Southern Company in 1999 as an Engineer supporting Southern Company Services Vogtle Project. She has held several fleet level positions in Engineering Programs and Systems during her tenure at Southern Company, the majority of which have been at Southern Nuclear. Prior to Southern Company, Sharon was employed with Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) as an engineer where she supported Watts Bar, Sequoyah, and Browns Ferry.

Sharon has a Bachelor of Science in Metallurgical Engineering from the University of Alabama and currently resides in Bessemer, Alabama.

Dr. Bruce Halbert

Idaho National Labs

Bruce Hallbert leads the Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program, a DOE-sponsored multi-Laboratory multi-disciplinary program that conducts collaborative research with stakeholders of the commercial nuclear power industry to sustain US nuclear power generation assets.

Gwenna Hill

Program Manager

Idaho National Labs

Gwenna Hill is a Program Manager at the Idaho National Laboratory. In this role, Gwenna’s primary focus is delivering automated solutions to engineering, operations, business and research. She also supports processes and interfaces in their Enterprise Asset Management system.

Ash Massoudi

CEO & Co-Founder

NextAxiom

Ash Massoudi is the CEO & Co-Founder of NextAxiom for over 20 years. He is the inventor of hyperService paradigm. Ash has 109 patents, 1 in Dynamic Instruction.

Sandy Zylka

EVP Products & Technology, Co-Founder

NextAxiom

Sandy is a co-founder of NextAxiom® and is the EVP of Products and Technology. She has over 25 years of software and product development. Sandy also has over 18 years supporting nuclear and utilities. She has 7 patents and one in Dynamic Instructions.

Todd Hurrle

Director of Nuclear Digital Transformation

NextAxiom

Todd Hurrle is the Director of Nuclear Digital Transformation at NextAxiom. He is the former Xcel Energy Innovation Director with 23 years of Nuclear Power Experience and 16 plus years of engineering design, systems, and fin maintenance. Todd was also a SRO for 7 years.

Ronnie Williams

Nuclear DWEP SME

NextAxiom

Ronnie Williams has 25+ years of Nuclear Power Experience. Prio to joining NextAxiom, Ronnie was the Maintenance Planning Supervisor at SNC for 5+ years. He also has 20 years in the Navy, in Nuclear.

Mitch Burke

Nuclear DWEP Project Manager & SME

NextAxiom

Mitch Burke is the Nuclear Project Manager & SME at NextAxiom. He has over 40 + years of nuclear power experience in PMP and CSBB. Mitch as the PM for NextEra CBP implementation. He also authored PPA Dynamic Procedure Draft Guidance.

Jim Gracely

Nuclear DWEP Project Manager

NextAxiom

Jim Gracely is the Nuclear DWEP Project Manager. He has 28 years serving the nuclear industry and 25+ years in project management & EAM Product Development.