National Reactor Innovation Center Bios

Ashley Finan is the Director of the National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC). In this role, she is responsible for overseeing initiatives to provide resources to reactor innovators to test, demonstrate, and conduct performance assessments to accelerate the deployment of advanced nuclear technology concepts.

Dr. Finan most recently served as Executive Director for the Nuclear Innovation Alliance, where she was responsible for managing the organization’s strategy, operations, policy and technical development, stakeholder outreach, and fundraising. She provided expert guidance to policymakers, academic teams, industry stakeholders, and NGOs. Dr. Finan previously served as a Director of Nuclear Innovation at Clean Air Task Force.

Dr. Finan earned her Ph.D. in Nuclear Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her doctoral work focused on energy innovation investment and policy optimization, both in nuclear and renewable energy technologies. She has played a key role in studies of the use of advanced nuclear energy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in several applications, including hydrogen production, coal to liquids processes, and oil production methods. She has worked as a strategy and engineering consultant, primarily on nuclear energy applications. She has also contributed to analyses of the techno-economic potential of energy efficiency improvements in the residential and commercial sectors and several related topics.

Dr. Finan holds an SB degree in Physics as well as SB and SM degrees in Nuclear Science and Engineering from MIT.

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Brad Tomer is Chief Operating Officer of the National Reactor Innovation Center at the Idaho National Laboratory. In this role, he manages the day-to-day operations of the Center.

Mr. Tomer most recently served as Interim CEO and VP of Operations for Avitas Systems, a GE Venture offering robotic-based data collection techniques and cutting-edge analytics and artificial intelligence to drive predictive industrial insights and actions. He is former Chief Engineer and General Manager for Advanced Technology at GE Oil and Gas where he was responsible for developing and implementing engineering processes and procedures and developing advanced technologies for the entire oil and gas value stream.

Prior to his tenure at GE, Mr. Tomer served in several roles at the National Energy Technology Laboratory, including as Chief Operating Officer, where he implemented science and technology programs. He was Director of the Office of Major Demonstrations, overseeing a $3.5 billion investment in carbon capture, utilization, and storage from large point source emitters of carbon dioxide. Mr. Tomer was also Director for the Strategic Center for Natural Gas and Oil, developing and implementing research and development programs in oil and gas exploration, production, infrastructure, and utilization.

Early in his career, Brad worked at the Belvoir Research, Development & Engineering Center and successfully developed advanced technologies to support U.S. military operations. He has a B.S. degree in petroleum and natural gas engineering from The Pennsylvania State University, an M.B.A. from George Mason University, and a master’s degree in economics from West Virginia University.