She knows it’s cliché, but when ORAU President and CEO Meghan Millwood discusses what drives her passion for ORAU, it comes down to one thing: our people.
“That’s what I said in the ‘Trusted Partners’ video, and what I say when I’m out in public: ORAU’s success really is the people,” Millwood said. ORAU Trusted Partners is a short-video series in which employees from across the organization share what they are passionate about in the work that they do and what makes them a trusted partner to our customers and other stakeholders.
“I remember back to when I was interviewed before I first came to ORAU, I asked ‘why does everyone stick around here for so long?’ because that hadn’t been my experience with previous employers, and I heard, ‘it’s the people,’” she said. “At the time they said ORAU was a family. Obviously, we are a business, but still, people care for each other like it’s a family.”
Millwood added that people come here because they want to do something valuable. “They don’t come to ORAU as just another place to get a job. They really see this as something where we’re making an impact.”
That’s part of what led her to begin her career at ORAU 24 years ago and why she applied for the company’s top job. She was selected by the ORAU Board of Directors in the summer of 2025 and assumed the role of President and CEO in September, when ORAU was amid one of the most challenging years in our nearly 80-year history. Those challenges included federal budget impacts, programmatic shifts, organizational restructures, contractual adjustments, staffing changes, a government shutdown, and leadership transitions.
Meghan Millwood, ORAU President and CEO, speaks at an all-staff meeting of ORAU employees.
She credits a dynamic leadership team and the dedication of all employees for helping ORAU weather the challenges of 2025 and for continuing to do great work for our customers.
Telling ORAU’s Brand Story
Millwood proudly points to ORAU’s Brand Story, which was created as part of the strategic planning process during her first 90 days as president and CEO. The company’s new brand story outlines how ORAU helps scientific and technical workers all through their training, education, and career lifecycles, from kindergarten through retirement and beyond—“K to Gray,” as Millwood likes to say— as the ultimate demonstration of ORAU’s impact.
The ORAU Brand Story is built around the lifecycle of a scientific and technical worker, encompassing five distinct phases:
- Discover (kindergarten through high school): ORAU sparks curiosity in young minds through hands-on STEM activities, competitions, educator lesson plans and tools for career exploration, fostering a lifelong love for science and technology.
- Develop (college and early career): ORAU equips emerging professionals with internships, research opportunities, and training programs, preparing them to thrive in STEM and technical careers.
- Connect (mid-career professionals): ORAU connects mid-career professionals with expert networks and collaboration opportunities, fostering innovation and advancing scientific discovery.
- Support (seasoned professionals): ORAU supports seasoned professionals in sharing their knowledge and continuing their contributions to STEM and technical excellence.
- Strengthen (worker health and community well-being): The four phases of the life cycle are built on this foundation, where ORAU safeguards the health and resilience of workers and communities by addressing occupational health challenges, enhancing emergency preparedness, advancing public health research, and promoting safer working and living environments.
“Through our workforce development expertise and our support for workers’ health, safety, and resilience in the communities where they live and work, we provide touch points of impact through every phase of a worker’s career path,” she said. This includes everything from developing and connecting them to supporting and strengthening them. While ORAU does a lot of things, these are our sweet spots.”
ORAU’s Core Capabilities
Since the development of the ORAU Brand Story, Millwood and the executive team have worked to identify ORAU’s core capabilities.
“The leadership team identified our core capabilities by honoring the strengths that have long distinguished our organization and the deep expertise of our subject matter experts,” Millwood said. “They are part of who we are—grounded in our history and guiding our future—and position ORAU as a trusted partner to federal, state and local agencies.”
- Workforce Development: ORAU connects highly qualified scientists, engineers and researchers to federal agency customers to advance mission-driven work through fellowships and other research opportunities.
- Staffing Solutions: ORAU builds and strengthens scientific and technical talent pipelines to meet national workforce needs.
- Research Partnerships: ORAU enables collaboration among academia, government and industry to accelerate innovation and address complex challenges.
- Peer Review Services: ORAU manages rigorous, transparent peer review and research evaluation processes that uphold scientific integrity.
- Exposure Science: ORAU provides specialized expertise in radiation safety, occupational exposure and technical health services that protect workers and communities.
- Emergency Preparedness: ORAU enhances readiness, response and recovery capabilities to strengthen the workforce and community resilience.
- Public Health Solutions: ORAU designs and delivers programs that improve health outcomes and promote community well-being.
Millwood believes ORAU’s future is bright, especially with the growth of the nuclear renaissance and Manhattan Project 2.0.
“As a country, we really don’t have a pipeline ready for all of the nuclear work that’s coming, and there is a lot coming,” Millwood said, pointing to all the nuclear-related companies that have come or are coming to Oak Ridge to build and support the next generation of nuclear energy reactors. “We definitely have a role to play in helping shape the nuclear energy workforce.”
Millwood said ORAU’s Workforce Solutions Team is supplying recruiting and technical placement expertise to leaders and hiring managers at some of the companies moving to the region. Additionally, ORAU’s Research and University and Partnerships Office expanded membership in our University Consortium to include community colleges. Five community colleges were accepted as affiliate members of the University Consortium at the 2026 Annual Meeting of the ORAU Council of Sponsoring Institutions in March.
Membership expansion takes to heart the recommendations made in the Nuclear Energy Academic Roadmap (NEAR). Led by the ORAU-led Partnership for Nuclear Energy (PNE) and the ORAU STEM Accelerator, NEAR establishes priorities and guidance for expanding the nuclear energy workforce pipeline, including a focus on vocational schools and community colleges. PNE brings together leading nuclear energy experts and stakeholders to address and solve the needs of the current and future nuclear energy workforce.
Millwood adds that supporting the communities in which we do business is also key to ORAU’s impact. “We are different from a lot of the larger companies here in Oak Ridge because we’re a non-profit organization. That doesn’t mean we don’t make a profit, but our reason for being is to do good and part of that is giving back to the community.”
Millwood surprised Logan Woods, a sixth-grade math and science teacher at Sevierville Intermediate School, with the Extreme Classroom Makeover grand prize, during an event at the school in April 2026.
Millwood mentioned just a few of the ways ORAU has supported the community, including:
- Sending more than 700,000 free books to area children through ORAU’s sponsorship of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library since 2001.
- More than $500,000 in corporate and employee donations to United Way and Community Shares over the last five years in ORAU’s Annual Giving Campaign.
- Over $1 million donated to community organizations and initiatives over the last five years.
- More than $125,000 invested in support of regional healthcare, including the Methodist Medical Center Residency Program and the Roane State Community College Knox Regional Health Science and Simulation Center.
For Millwood, it’s the ultimate honor to lead a company like ORAU that has done so much good for so many years. But she’s not resting on that reputation. She is keenly focused on and passionate about leading ORAU to an even brighter future.