DOE Joint Genome Institute

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The JGI Leadership Team

This group is responsible for institutional strategic planning, talent management, and convening of advisory committees to guide the direction of programs and initatives to enhance the JGI’s preeminence as a national resource. Members report to the JGI Director.

  • Nigel Mouncey, Director

    Nigel Mouncey

    Dr. Mouncey joined the DOE Joint Genome Institute in 2017 as the fourth Director in its 20-year history. After stints as a senior research scientist in molecular biology at Roche Vitamins, Inc. in New Jersey and DSM Nutritional Products in Switzerland, he joined Dow AgroSciences in Indianapolis in 2008 and served as Bioengineering and Bioprocessing R&D Director and Leader from 2011 onward.

  • Massie Ballon, Interim Manager of Communications & Outreach

    Massie Ballon

    Massie S. Ballon is the Interim Manager of Communications and Outreach at the JGI. Since 2009, she has served as the primary storyteller for the JGI, producing both text-based and multimedia stories.

  • Tina Clarke, Human Resources Division Partner

    Tina Clarke

    Ms. Clarke is a Senior Human Resources (HR) Division Partner who began her HR journey after obtaining her BA degree in Psychology from Sonoma State University. Early on Tina knew the importance of understanding human and group behaviors as her role in HR evolved with more exposure in employee relations matters and coaching supervisors and managers.

  • Nick Everson, Deputy of Operations

    Nick Everson

    Mr. Everson oversees the JGI Operations Department, which includes Procurement, Human Resources, Facilities, Safety, Lab Automation and Administration groups. He has 20 years of financial and operations management experience including with the U.S. Navy and Intel Corporation.

  • Kjiersten Fagnan, Chief Informatics Officer

    Kjiersten Fagnan

    Dr. Fagnan joined the JGI in 2012 after completing a petascale postdoctoral fellowship at the DOE National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) and the Computational Research Division at Berkeley Lab. In April 2016 she became the JGI’s Chief Informatics Officer. She also leads the JGI Data Science & Informatics Department.

  • Len Pennacchio, Deputy of Genomic Technologies

    Len Pennacchio

    Dr. Pennacchio joined the JGI in 2003 and has focused on applying state-of-the-art molecular methods to address wide-ranging questions existing in biology. He holds a dual appointment as a Division Deputy at the DOE Joint Genome Institute and a Senior Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

  • Susannah Tringe, Director, Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division

    Susannah Tringe

    Dr. Tringe heads the JGI Microbial Systems Group, whose work focuses on sequence-based approaches to studying microbial community assembly, function, and dynamics. Dr. Tringe is also serving as Director of the Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division within the Biosciences Area.

  • Axel Visel, Deputy for Science Programs

    Axel Visel

    Dr. Visel joined JGI in 2010 and serves as the Deputy for Science Programs, overseeing the Eukaryote, Prokaryote, and Integrative Genomics Programs. Additionally, he leads the development and implementation of strategic initiatives for JGI.

  • Tanja Woyke, Deputy of User Programs

    Dr. Woyke serves as JGI’s Deputy of User Programs, overseeing programs including the Community Science Program. She has been the JGI Microbial Program head since 2009.