El Jefe: Al Narath, Sandia National Laboratories - Sandia Laboratories' president

New Mexico Business Journal, August, 1992 by Reed Upton

Ask Al Narath to describe the changing role of Sandia National Laboratories and he uses words like "stressful," "exciting," "challenging" and "opportunity."

They've become buzzwords with a different meaning than when Narath joined Sandia as a technical staff member in the research division back in 1959.

During the German-born Narath's rise at Sandia, culminating in his appointment as president in 1989, a lot of things have changed.

Technology transfer, American competitiveness, justifying the continued federal resources funnelled to Albuquerque's southeast side -- all are issues on a full plate today at Sandia.

But, says Narath, anyone assuming that the shifting mission of the lab is a lurching change is wrong.

"It's a shift that's been occurring at Sandia for a long time," he says. "We've been changing for 20 years.

"The process really began in the mid-1970s when we suffered several layoffs and we had to begin to diversify.

"We put heavy emphasis on programs where the private sector was the end customer."

Narath admits, though, that the private-sector initiatives occurring today are more urgent to the lab's future.

"Today, the rate at which this change is occurring has accelerated," he says. "In the 1970s we were in the midst of the Cold War; that has passed.

"If you go far enough back into our history, perhaps 20 years, the only customers we had were the federal government.

"Culturally, the big change that's taken place in the past few years is one from entitlements to survival."

In the 1990s, Narath sees Sandia contributing much more to private industry in an attempt to boost U.S. competitiveness.

He cites the 40 cooperative research and development agreements Sandia has entered into with private industry in the past year and a half as well as ongoing efforts to reach out to U.S. industry.

"The only way to do that," he says, "is with face-to-face meetings with people. We've taken great pains to reach out to industry. We now see U.S. industry as our customer."

That includes, says Narath, the big three U.S. automakers, who recently toured Sandia to explore what technology may be available to help revitalize the industry.

Narath bridles at suggestions that Sandia has been so secretive and attached for so long to the public trough that it has trouble recognizing the needs of private sector companies, let alone assisting them.

"I don't think that's true at all," he says. "We've been increasingly involved in working with U.S. industry."

But, says Narath, the slam over Sandia's penchant for secrecy may be misplaced.

"One of the things that has made industry reluctant to work with the federal government is the fear that proprietary information will leak to competitors," he says. "One thing we do very well (at Sandia) is keep secrets."

He says there will need to be an increasingly cooperative relationship among the state's research institutions to make the high tech industry flourish.

"Today, I see local conditions as being supportive of high tech industries," he says. "For the first time I think there's an opportunity for New Mexico to build a high tech industrial base.

"The state of New Mexico faces a tremendous challenge," he says. "It has to find a way to leverage its resources to achieve a greater rate of economic growth.

"We pride ourselves, for example, in having more PhDs per capita than any other state, but the economic leverage is far less than any other state.

"The challenge is in cooperative work with other institutions."

Meanwhile, Narath believes that the weapons program, Sandia's initial reason for being, will continue, albeit with less steam than in Cold War days.

An issue that will affect Narath directly, and one that has the thousands of Sandia employees looking to the future is who will eventually wind up managing Sandia.

After 43 years of operation under American Telephone and Telegraph Co., the Department of Energy is now shopping for a new operating contractor.

"I know for a fact that (the Department of Energy) is extremely supportive of Sandia's efforts at changing its culture, the strategic vision we've created for the laboratory," he says.

"I know the DOE liked the AT&T management style."

When the reins change hands, will there still be a place for the University of California at Berkeley physical chemistry PhD?

"I feel a strong commitment, and have for a very long time, to Sandia and all of its people," Narath says.

"If there's a good place for me under the new management, I would always consider it."

Narath says that he's made a commitment to the Department of Energy to stick around through October 1993.

"After that, there are always other opportunities in life," he says, should he find himself leaving Sandia.

"There's never been anytime in the history of Sandia that is as stressful," he says, "but also as exciting and full of opportunities.

"It's a time of extraordinary change."

Reed Upton is a free lance writer based in Albuquerque.