As the Labs Director for Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), James provides leadership and management direction for the safe, secure execution of all Sandia missions. He brings three decades of national security experience to the leadership of SNL.
James began his technical career at SNL in 1990 and over 12 years provided technical advances and leadership in scientific fields spanning high energy density physics to structural dynamics. As part of the Salinas team, James was awarded the 2002 Gordon Bell Award.

In 2002, James joined Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) as the Program Director of the NNSA’s Advanced Simulation and Computing program (ASC) and later served in the positions of Principal Deputy Associate Director of LANL’s nuclear weapons program and Hydrodynamic Experiments Division Leader.
In 2007, James rejoined SNL as Director of Sandia’s Computer and Computational Sciences Center and ASC Program Director. In 2010, James became the Director of SNL’s premier cyber center and from this position was promoted to Vice President for Defense Systems and Assessments in 2015.

In August 2017, James joined Oak Ridge National Laboratory as Chief Scientist for National Security Programs and later served as Associate Laboratory Director for National Security Sciences. In January 2020, James was selected as SNL Laboratories Director.
James has been a member of the Air Force’s Scientific Advisory Board and current serves on the Board of United Way of Northern Central New Mexico.

James holds a doctorate in nuclear engineering from Texas A&M University and is an Outstanding Alumni of the Engineering College.