ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories Vice President for Human Resources and Communications John Slipke has named two new directors: Karen Gardner, director of the Human Resources Center, and George Rhynedance, director of the Public Relations & Communications Center.

“Both bring a breadth of knowledge and experience to our division and will be a great addition to the Sandia leadership team,” Slipke says.

Gardner comes from Lockheed Martin, where she spent 19 years working in the area of human resources, most recently as talent management director for the Information Systems and Global Services business area. She has experience in assisting development and implementation of corporate strategic plans for human resources focus items; advising management on employee relations matters; developing and implementing HR policies; merging companies into one culture (team building); organizing retrenchment activities and mitigating legal exposure; recruitment, staffing, performance pay plans; professional training and development; EEO/AA; organizational behavior. She also is an experienced lecturer/trainer in academic and business environments.

Over the next year at Sandia, Gardner says, in support of Sandia’s strategy, Human Resources Center will realign to better provide support and programs that enable a world-class workforce culture. Specific attention will focus on Full Spectrum Leadership development, talent management, policies complexity reduction, performance management, and PeopleSoft version 9.0 implementation.

Gardner has an MBA in management from the Graduate School of Business at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a BSBA in human resource management from the College of Business and Administration at the University of Colorado.

Rhynedance has assumed responsibility for the communications organization, which is accountable for all areas of communications, including planning and strategy, external communications, media relations, community affairs and involvement, and employee communications. He will also be responsible for Creative Arts, Video Services, and the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History.

Rhynedance comes to Sandia after spending 27 years in the U.S. Army, retiring in 2007 with the rank of colonel. He most recently was a senior communications manager with Raytheon’s Network Centric Systems business. In this role Rhynedance was responsible for public relations and communications planning and served as the primary media spokesman.

Prior to joining Raytheon in 2006, Rhynedance was director of the Army’s Public Affairs Center at Fort Meade, Md., and also worked in the Pentagon for five years as the senior public affairs officer for a DoD/interagency strategic and operational group.

Rhynedance is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and has two master’s degrees in strategic studies.

Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration. With main facilities in Albuquerque, N.M., and Livermore, Calif., Sandia has major R&D responsibilities in national security, energy and environmental technologies, and economic competitiveness.

Sandia news media contact: Chris Burroughs, coburro@sandia.gov (505) 844-0948