Yissel Castanon is the Director of the DOE Employee Concerns Program (ECP), within the Department of Energy’s Office of Environment, Health, Safety and Security (EHSS). As the ECP Director, she supports a strong safety culture that ensures Federal, contractor, and subcontractor employees can raise workplace concerns without fear of reprisal. Workplace concerns may include safety, quality, environment, health, security, and management of DOE programs and facilities, and other issues related to the DOE workplace. ECP provides a voluntary, independent and formal avenue to report concerns, and ensures prompt identification, reporting, evaluation, investigation, and response.
Prior to serving as Director, Employee concerns program, Ms. Castanon served as the Navy Drug and Alcohol Program Manager and Senior Enlisted Advisor for the United States Naval Academy. During her tenure at the United States Naval Academy, she revamped and spearheaded the revision and implementation of the Navy Drug and Alcohol Program, resulting in a decline of alcohol related incident. Additionally, her initiative and leadership skills resulted in the improvement of her division across all mission areas, consequently earning numerous Outstanding Achievement Awards for the highest performing division.
Her previous roles include Senior Substance Abuse Counselor, U.S. Navy Firefighter Crash Crewman, and Flight Deck Supervisor. With over 20 years of active duty military service Ms. Castanon brings wide range of experience in management, training, operations planning, process improvement, crisis intervention, counseling, and leadership.
Both her supervisory and managerial skills have contributed to the success of her organization throughout her military service, earning her a Presidential Meritorious Service medal, two Secretary of Navy Commendation Medals and 4 Naval and Marine Corps Achievement Medals.
Ms. Castanon educational background includes a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Maryland.