Kimberly Budil, PhD

Hertz Fellow and Board Member Kim Budil is the director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and the first woman to hold this position since the laboratory was established in 1952.

As director, Budil sets the strategic vision for the laboratory and ensure successful execution of programs to advance science and technology for the nation and to maintain an outstanding and diverse workforce. The director leads the development and implementation of the laboratory’s scientific vision, goals and objectives, and serves as the laboratory’s highest-level liaison with government, public and private organizations.

Previously, she was the principal associate director for Weapons & Complex Integration at LLNL. In that role, she led the laboratory’s nuclear weapons program in its responsibilities to ensure the safety, security and reliability of the nation’s nuclear deterrent and to support the transformation of the stockpile and the nuclear weapons enterprise for the future. She was also responsible for stewardship of the broad range of science, technology and engineering capabilities and infrastructure that underpin the Stockpile Stewardship Program and lay the foundations for the long-term health and vitality of the Laboratory.

Budil joined LLNL in 1987 and has held roles of increasing management responsibility across LLNL programs. She served twice as a detailee in Washington, D.C., first at the National Nuclear Security Administration in the Office of Defense Science and then as a senior adviser to the under secretary for Science in the Department of Energy. Budil also served as vice president for national laboratories in the UC Office of the President, in addition to executive committee governor on the LANS and LLNS Boards of Governors and director on the Triad National Security Board.

She has a bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Illinois in Chicago and a Ph.D. in engineering/applied science from the University of California, Davis.