The American Nuclear Society honored Calvert Hall High School graduate Mike Kansler with the Utility Leadership Award at the 2010 American Nuclear Society Utility Working Conference in early August. Kansler, a 30-year industry veteran and a member of Calvert Hall’s class of 1972, served as the president, CEO and chief nuclear officer of Entergy, the second largest nuclear fleet in the United States, just prior to retiring in 2009.
After attending Calvert Hall, Kansler attended Virginia Tech University, which he said was critical to his career.
“I am honored by this award selection and want to send back a message of thanks to my alma mater for launching me down this path,” Kansler said of his college in a statement.
He earned a senior reactor operator license and completed Pennsylvania State University’s executive management program.
“My focus in my career has always been on maximizing performance while getting the message out that the nuclear industry is safe and reliable, providing clean-air nuclear powered electricity to the communities we serve,” Kansler said through Entergy.
Kansler spent more than 20 years at Virginia Power (now Dominion Resources), and in his last two years there was vice president of its nuclear program responsible for the operation of Surry and North Anna – the company’s twin-unit nuclear power stations.
Kansler joined Entergy in 1998 as vice president of operations support and was based at Entergy Nuclear’s headquarters in Jackson, Miss. In 2000 he was named as the company’s chief operating officer for the Northeast, later becoming president of the same region. In 2007 he was named Entergy Nuclear President, charged with fleet management at the company’s 10 sites where it owned or managed nuclear reactors.
Kansler is a major proponent of nuclear energy.
“I would also like to encourage engineering students to consider the nuclear industry as a first-choice employer upon graduation,” he said. “It has given me a lifetime of rewarding experiences in an industry that is vitally important to the production of ‘clean-air’ energy.”