Vonna Ordaz

Vonna L. Ordaz is the Director for the Office of Small Business and Civil Rights at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). In this role, she oversees and directs staff responsible for programs including Affirmative Employment and Diversity Management, Civil Rights, Diversity and Inclusion Outreach, and Small Business.

Ms. Ordaz joined the NRC in 1991, as an Engineer in the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR).  From 1994 to 1997, she served as an NRC Resident Inspector at the Comanche Peak Nuclear Power plant in Glen Rose, Texas.  In 1997, Ms. Ordaz returned to NRC headquarters where she held a number of progressively more responsible positions in NRR, including Reactor Systems Engineer; Senior Enforcement Coordinator; Technical Assistant; and Chief, Reactor Safeguards Policy Section.  In 2002, Ms. Ordaz served as Chief, Reactor Security Section; Chief, Reactor Safeguards Policy Section; Chief, Fuel Cycle and Special Security Programs Section; and Director, Nuclear Security Policy Project Directorate in the Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response (NSIR).  Beginning in January 2006, Ms. Ordaz served as Deputy Director for Reactor Security and Rulemaking in the Division of Security Policy, NSIR.  In 2007, she served as the Deputy Director, Division of Safety Systems and Risk Assessment in the Office of New Reactors before assuming a position as the Assistant for Operations in the Office of the Executive Director for Operations.  From 2009 through the end of 2011, she served as the Director, Division of Spent Fuel Storage and Transportation, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards before assuming a position as the Director, Office of Small Business and Civil Rights for over four years. In May 2016, Ms. Ordaz was appointed Deputy Office Director for the Office of New Reactors (NRO), where she also served as the Acting Office Director of NRO for an extended period of time. 
 
Ms. Ordaz received a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland; she completed the Women’s Executive Leadership Program through the U.S.D.A. Graduate School; and she is a graduate of the NRC’s Senior Executive Service Candidate Development Program.