Jay McDonald has more than 40 years of experience in: management; nuclear operations; emergency preparedness; maintenance; and surveillance of Federal and contractor activities.

He holds a BS degree with a major in Physics from the U.S. Naval Academy and an MS in Operations Research/Systems Analysis from the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California.

As a naval officer, his tours included: U.S.S. Enterprise, CVN-65 reactor department; Reactor Officer of the U.S.S. Eisenhower, CVN-69; Executive Officer of the Naval Nuclear Power Training Unit, Idaho; Deputy Chief of Staff for engineering training, Naval Surfaces Forces, Atlantic, and head of the Atlantic Fleet Nuclear Propulsion Mobile Training Team.

In over twenty years of association with the Department of Energy as both a Federal employee and a contractor, his experience has included Nuclear Operations and safety, readiness preparations and assessment and oversight of engineering. He has participated in and lead Operational Readiness Reviews and Assessments at several DOE and NNSA sites including Y-12, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He is also experienced in Emergency Operations, Environmental Assessment and cleanup, and maintenance operations.