Mike Purcell, StrategyDriven Senior AdvisorSenior Advisor
 
Phone: (423) 635-2146
Email: [email protected]
 
 
Mike Purcell is a StrategyDriven Advisory Services Senior Advisor with over 30 years of Energy industry and consulting experience. His experience includes external and internal advisory work within the Energy Industry specializing in nuclear oversight, quality assurance, licensing, performance benchmarking and improvement, training, leadership development, engineering, and change management. Mike has advised utility executives and senior managers on improving generation fleet and individual plant operating performance.

Mike possesses extensive regulatory and licensing experience including inspection readiness activities for U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) IP95001, 95002, and 95003 inspections, baseline inspections, license amendments, fire protection program inspections and implementation, license renewals, and extended power uprate activities.

Prior to becoming a management consultant, Mike held several senior nuclear and non-nuclear leadership positions at the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA); leading nuclear oversight, quality assurance, licensing, performance benchmarking & improvement, training, leadership development, engineering, as well as change management functions and initiatives some of which include:

  • Senior Manager, Nuclear Oversight – responsible for performance of the quality control and quality assurance functions and providing oversight of day-to-day plant activities important to nuclear station safety and security. Performed numerous programmatic assessments and evaluations of corrective action, human performance, safety culture and training programs; mock training accreditation boards; root cause evaluations, and regulatory recovery team efforts. Participated in analysis and use of Nuclear Safety Culture survey results. Provided frequent reporting and briefings to senior executives, NRC Resident Inspectors, and external Nuclear Safety Review Board (NSRB) members.
  • Nuclear Plant Organizational Effectiveness Assessments – participated on teams of highly experienced utility professionals in the performance evaluation of four nuclear plants in the area of organizational effectiveness and safety culture. Developed and implemented an industry leading process and training necessary for nuclear oversight to assess organizational effectiveness at the station and fleet levels. Partnered with utility executives and senior plant managers to devise and implement performance improvement plans.
  • Regulatory Assistance / Recovery Initiatives – Supported multiple Mock NRC Inspection Assessments using NRC Supplemental Inspection Manual Chapters 95001, 95002, and 95003. Lead the readiness assessment (Mock Inspection) for the NRC IP95003 inspection of a Column 4 nuclear station resulting in the successful passing of the inspection with no significant issues and the station returning to a Column 1 ROP Action Matrix status.
  • Senior Fleet Licensing Manager – led a diverse and geographically distributed team of licensing professionals responsible for all licensing activities associated with TVA’s fleet of six nuclear reactors. Responsible for improving regulatory margin through strong operational and regulatory performance of the six operating reactors, the quality of the relationships with the regulator, and the competence and quality of our licensing work. Significant regulatory issues addressed included preparing a power uprate amendment for Browns Ferry, transitioning the fire protection program to NFPA 805, and performing a hydrology analysis for flooding at all TVA nuclear sites.
  • Systems Engineering Manager – led 16 mechanical, electrical, and instrument systems and components engineers; providing technical support to plant maintenance and operations personnel and conducting pre-operational and start-up testing for the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant. Responsible for trouble-shooting air, water, and steam systems for design and performance problems. Performed thermodynamic and heat rate analysis of steam and water cycles to improve inefficiencies in heat exchangers, pumps and turbines. Developed and directed numerous test procedures, including the turbine cycle acceptance tests for the Sequoyah Nuclear Plant and turbine disc rotor cracking testing for the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant.
  • Performance Improvement through Employee Engagement Initiatives – Led employee engagement/process & performance improvement initiatives at the Sequoyah and Watts Bar Nuclear plants. Performed an assessment of current versus potential financial performance and engaged focus groups and employee teams to identify solutions to closing the $30 million gap in operations and maintenance (O&M) costs and increase generation. The process of involving the employee groups in the development of solutions had a dual benefit of identifying solutions the employees supported as well as increasing employee morale and engagement as illustrated by improved employee survey results.
  • Senior Manager, Performance and Benchmarking – developed and implemented fleet governance for the creation and use of internal/external performance metrics and fleet benchmarking including staffing studies to support a standard fleet organization structure. Automated the collection and reporting of station and fleet performance metrics with KPI Generator. Used benchmarking and comparative analysis based on INPO and other industry best practices and performance measures to identify and close gaps to excellence.
  • Senior Manager, Business Processes/Production Planning (Fossil & Hydro Generation) – served as an agent of change; directed comparative / competitor analysis and benchmarking activities; identified best in class performance and best practice processes; and led process reengineering and process improvement / business transformation teams. Optimized asset performance for the Fossil Power Group including maximizing commercial availability of 17,000 MWe of installed generating capacity that produces $3.8 billion of revenue annually:
    • Developed a performance management system for TVA based on the Balanced Scorecard
    • Created a strategic management process and 5-year strategic plan
    • Conducted market and industry research in the US and abroad including tours of generating facilities in the UK (England, Scotland, & Wales) to identify best practices for use at TVA
    • Performed financial analysis / modeling of generating asset performance under a range of scenarios and future market prices
    • Developed generation supply curves for eastern US and projected forward pricing for energy and capacity products in a deregulated market scenario
  • Senior Manager, Training and Development – successfully integrated the training and development functions across TVA into a single high-performing organization providing pipeline and continuing technical training programs; supervisory, employee, and leadership development; regulatory / compliance training; and organizational effectiveness / culture change programs and initiatives (STAR 7, CHI, etcetera). Responsible for leading the ongoing assessment, design, development, delivery, and evaluation of education and training initiatives to meet the training/human performance needs of operations, maintenance, engineering, and other personnel to safely achieve organizational and agency strategic objectives. Significant contributions included:
    • Successful recruitment and pipeline training for replacement of 1/3 of ops and maintenance workforce
    • Use of blended learning approaches to minimize employee time off tools and maximize staff productivity
    • Successful deployment of NERC System Operator Training for TRO
    • Development and ongoing use of cultural health assessment process
    • Implementation of talent assessment and succession planning process
    • Implementation of a new supervisor and leadership development model
    • Training of distributors on the conduct of switching at TVA facilities
  • Manager, Management Development and Technical Training – developed and deployed management and technical training for 5,800 employees within the Fossil Power Group including support for several organizational change initiatives. Served on the TVA Strategy Development Team that established the competitive environment and provided a platform from which the STAR 7 initiative for culture change at TVA was launched.

Mike further shaped the nuclear industry, quality profession, and academic community through his leadership of influential forums and board:

  • INPO Organizational Effectiveness Industry Peer and New Nuclear Oversight Manager course mentor
  • Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and EUCG Peer Advisor
  • Past President, UT Chattanooga Alumni Board of Directors, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
  • Past Member, Chancellors Roundtable, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
  • Past Member, UT Foundation Board of Directors, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
  • Past Member, UTAA Board of Directors & Executive Committee, University of Tennessee
  • Past Member, Advisory Board, Thomas Edison State College, Trenton, NJ
  • Past Member, Governance Board, Energy Providers Coalition for Education, Denver, CO
  • Past Member, TQA Board of Examiners, Tennessee Quality Award, 1999, 2000

Mike attended the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga; earning a Master of Business Administration degree and Tennessee Technological University; earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering.

In addition to degree conferring programs, Mike has received several leading certifications from respected national and international organizations including:

  • Professional Engineer (PE) License, State of Tennessee
  • Central Emergency Control Center (CECC) for Radiological Emergency Planning, Certified Director
  • Shift Technical Advisor Qualification, Sequoyah Nuclear Plant, Tennessee Valley Authority
  • Institute of Nuclear Power Operations, Nuclear Oversight Management Program Certification
  • Institute of Nuclear Power Operations, Peer Organizational Effectiveness Evaluator

Mike can be contacted by phone at (423) 635-2146 or email at [email protected].