NEWSLETTER
January 2025
Omega President Earns Prestigious “Muddy Boot” Award
Bill Tindal was awarded the East Tennessee Economic Council’s (ETEC) Muddy Boot Award on December 13, 2024 during their annual awards celebration. The Muddy Boot Award is a tribute to individuals who, through their work and community activites, make East Tennessee a stronger region. This award was established 50 years ago to honor individuals who have gone above and beyond the call of duty — like those who served the nation during the Manhattan Project through adverse conditions, sometimes actual rivers of mud — to make the community, the state of Tennessee, and the nation a better place to live and work. Bill became one of 107 recipients of the award between 1973 and 2024.
Charitable Giving
Omega Technical Services wrapped up 2024 by making several charitable contributions to a multitude of community organizations. Much needed funds were provided to Oak Valley Baptist Church in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to provide Christmas gifts to underprivileged families. A donation was made to Catholic Charities of East Tennessee for disaster relief funds and the Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary Club to advance literacy efforts in the local community. Finally, the Trapuzzano’s contributed to “A Hand Up” Christian Homeless Ministry and other area missions to support the homeless and less fortunate in the local area.
Omega Events
ELT RETREAT
The Executive Leadership Team (ELT) met at Omega’s Program Management (PMO) office in Aiken, SC, on December 4-5 for a strategic development session. The meeting was very productive with key initiatives identified for 2025 and goals from each division to map to the corporate initiatives. It was great to have the opportunity to spend additional time with the PMO staff and Recruiting team. In addition, the ELT was able to attend the PMO East Christmas Celebration at the Crowne Plaza North Augusta on 12/5/24.
Omega Corporate Christmas Dinner
The 2024 Omega Christmas Party was held in Knoxville, TN, on Friday, 12/20/24. Everyone in attendance enjoyed the fantastic dinner, a white elephant gift exchange, and the tradition of stealing gifts that followed.
PMO East Christmas Celebration
Omega’s Project Management Office in Aiken, SC held their annual Christmas party with over 100 attendees. Guests enjoyed Christmas bingo with baskets and gift cards as prizes, an amazing Christmas-themed photo booth, and a wonderful array of food.
Omega Corporate “Off-Site” Workshop
Omega held its 2nd Annual Corporate Off-Site Workshop in downtown Knoxville, TN, on December 11th and 12th. This event included relationship-building exercises from Leadership Knoxville and a DiSC profile assessment conducted by the Human Resources team. The executive leadership team spent a significant amount of time providing a refocus on corporate objectives as we move into the next year.
A Financial Review of the company’s status, the 2025 Strategic Outlook, and a Mapping of our Journey ahead were the highlights of this two-day event.
A Note From Andy Notbohm
Vice President of Strategic Development
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Since joining Omega earlier this year, I have been impressed with every team member I have had the opportunity to meet. I look forward to meeting many more of you in the coming year and working together to achieve our goals. The future will bring us many opportunities to grow and to enable the mission success of our national security clients. I want to start by thanking each and every employee for all you do to make Omega the amazing place it is.
As we go forward into a new year, and beyond, I think it is important that we all reflect on what it means to be a part of Omega. When I started my new role, I was frequently asked “What does Omega do?” by friends and colleagues. It took
me some time, and many discussions with leaders and employees, to build a complete answer. I am sure many of you have been asked the same question, and each of us probably has a different answer. By all accounts, Omega is a great place to work. We are about to celebrate 30 years of service to the Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration. We support those organizations in their missions through staff augmentation with the best people. We are developing capabilities in key areas to pursue scope-based contracts. All of these are great answers.
In the future, Omega will continue to grow, and we will pursue new work in new sectors (in addition to the work we already are the best at). Our growth will require us to think about who Omega is, for the next 30 years. First and foremost, Omega will continue to be a company that connects the best people with critical needs in strategic infrastructure programs. Our purpose will not change. How we support our clients will change. We bring four core capabilities that advance critical infrastructure modernization: Work Integration & Management, Program & Project Support, Nuclear Safety & Operations, and Startup, Readiness, and Commissioning. We are in the process of documenting our approaches and providing innovative solutions tailored to our client’s needs in these areas. Omega will continue to provide experienced and knowledgeable people to implement our approaches and deliver solutions that enable our clients to achieve their goals.
We are already leveraging our capabilities to pursue new contracts, as well as to bring greater value to our existing clients. In the coming months we will begin to focus the entire organization on these capabilities and how we work together to innovate and become the go-to providers for these capabilities.
I am excited about the challenge and the opportunity that the new year brings. I am confident that we have the right people and tools to achieve our vision: We are the recognized leaders of work integration across the DOE and NNSA.
Employee Spotlight
January’s Employee Spotlight shines on Chris Woosley. Chris is a Senior Mechanical Engineer Integrator at the Savannah River Site in Aiken, SC site, where he is known for his unwavering commitment to getting the job done—and getting it done right. A key influence in Chris’s career was his father, an engineer himself, who taught Chris invaluable lessons that continue to guide him today.
The most impactful of these lessons are summed up in five key rules:
1. You don’t have to know the answer, but you have to know the question. If you don’t understand the problem you’re trying to solve, you’ll never reach a solution.
2. You don’t have to know the answer, but you have to know where to find it. You don’t have to be the smartest person in the room and someone has probably already invented something that can help you. Go find it and use it.
3. You don’t have to know the right answer, but you better recognize the wrong one. You should know when something is not working or could lead to issues.
4. You can’t leave until you learn something. Every day is an opportunity for growth—always seek to learn something new.
5. You don’t learn anything from success, failure is your teacher. Mistakes are where the real lessons are. Embrace failure as a chance to improve and grow. Chris reflects that these rules have been the cornerstone of his career. He believes his biggest growth has come from the mistakes he’s made, and his advice to young professionals is clear: Don’t be afraid to fail. Mistakes are part of the journey, and by identifying how to correct them, you open the door to invaluable mentorship.
Outside of work, you can find Chris playing “fetch” with his golf balls, working on his project cars (a 1962 Ford Falcon and an MG convertible), or spending time with his fiancé. Chris describes his fiancé, Cassie, as his, “absolute greatest find”. While they got set up on a blind date years ago, they didn’t officially meet until 3 years later, after the blind date fell through. They didn’t know at first that they had been the ones set up on a blind date years before. After hitting it off and dating for a few years, they got engaged in October. Congratulations, Chris!
History, Facts, and Upcoming Events
- January is National Hot Tea Month!
- January is also the coldest month of the year in most regions of the U.S.; According to folklore, the weather of
the first 12 days of the year is said to be indicative of the following 12 months.
Jan 01
New Year’s Day (Holiday)
Jan 04
The best night in January to observe the Quadrantid Meteor Shower from midnight to dawn
Jan 08
Elvis Presley’s Birthday
Jan 13
The full moon reaches peak illumination at 5:27pm EST
Jan 14
National Dress Up Your Pet Day
Jan 20
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (observed)
Jan 20
Inauguration Day
Jan 27 – 29
Nuclear Deterrence Summit (NDS), Arlington, VA
Recipe of the Month
Thank you to Dee Markelonis for providing this month’s recipe! Dee loved making Potato Candy with her children when they were little and is looking forward to continuing the tradition with her granddaughter. It’s an easy recipe where you don’t have to worry about temperature and you don’t have to measure exactly.
INGREDIENTS
About 4 tbsp. cooked mashed russet potato
3-4 cups powered sugar
1/4-1/3 cup peanut butter
(substitute for allergies with other nut butters –
Nutella, Almond Butter, Sunflower Butter)
Optional: a pinch of salt & 1/2 tsp. vanilla
INSTRUCTIONS
- Boil a peeled potato (about the size of a new potato) until done.
- Mash the potato with a fork in a mixing bowl.
- Mix in portions of powdered sugar. (The mixture will be LIQUID to start – just keep adding sugar!)
- Once the mixture has reached a dough-like consistency, roll it out to your desired thickness.
- Spread peanut butter on the dough.
- Roll into a log and wrap in cling wrap.
- Place in the refrigerator to set for several hours.
- Once cold, cut into slices and ENJOY!
WANT TO GIVE THIS RECIPE A TRY? Send photos of your Potato Candy, or one of our previous recipes to ecollins@omegatechserv.com. We can’t wait to see your culinary masterpieces!
Hometown Holiday Favorites
Do you have a cherished family recipe you’d like to share? We invite all employees to showcase their culinary creations and traditions. Whether it’s breakfast, lunch, dinner, or dessert, we welcome all recipes! Please send a list of ingredients and directions (with images, if you’d like) to ecollins@omegatechserv.com to have your dish featured in January’s Recipe of the Month!
With enough recipes, we can create a complete Omega Recipe Book to compile all our favorite dishes and traditions in one place!
