Changes, changes, changes :)

A big change comes to the Nichols household, Will is no longer an employee of Battelle! Yes, thirteen months short of 20 years (and thirteen months short of that precious 5th week of vacation, darn!), and Will is now an employee of INTERA. For those who are curious, you can check out their website at http://www.intera.com



The change is a welcome one for Will, the last two years at Battelle have been a challenge to find projects in his area of expertise. As Battelle moves the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory towards being more of a molecular/chemical sciences lab, work in hydrology has been less of a priority. Combined with perpetual federal funding games every October, Will decided it was time to see where his skills were valued.

He found the place! Will had served on a national review panel with an INTERA employee, Marsh Lavenue, who was recently named INTERA's President and CEO. For the last couple of years Marsh had been expressing interest in Will's skill base, and this year everything fell into place for a move. INTERA recently won a 5 year (renewable for another 5) contract with CH2M Hill to do work at Hanford that is right up Will's alley. In fact, it is work that Battelle lost not long ago. Will laughed that he was archiving and packing up project materials at Battelle that would essentially be delivered to his new office at INTERA in a few weeks :) We are delighted beyond words that this means we stay in Kennewick for the next 5-10 years, hopefully until the kids are out of high school. Then Michelle and Will are more than game for a possible move anywhere INTERA wants to take us (they have international offices, hint, hint!).

It's been exciting but sometimes stressful since Will accepted the INTERA offer. All of our benefits change, new insurance, new work hours, etc. All the changes, along with closing out his Battelle research work, mean Will has had a very busy last few weeks. We are excited about things that a small company like INTERA (80 employees) offers compared to Battelle (4,000 employees in Richland alone). Company stock and an employee bonus incentive program are very attractive. So is the idea that if you need a pencils or other office/computer product, you ask the office to get it for you, without the long list of manager approvals, purchasing approval, Finance office approval, DOE approval, loading dock approval, purchasing card paperwork...

We are thankful that God has directed us to this opportunity, it truly all fell into place in His timing. Stay tuned for news of the transition, and see how Will likes a work schedule that gives him every other Friday off!