President's Message

As contract researchers, we at MRI depend on our clients for survival. I’m happy to report that our research operations have grown significantly for the third year in a row—so, happily, our clients continue to need us. We were able to stay in the service of many long-standing customers—once more MRI was awarded the Environmental Toxicology Program contract from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, which will allow us to provide chemistry and toxicology support for this important program, as we have since 1972. We also added a host of new projects this year.

By emphasizing customer service and innovation at all levels of our organization, MRI received excellent ratings from our customers throughout the past year. These came via letters, and client satisfaction surveys, and formal performance assessments and award fees. You will meet some of these customers on the pages of this year’s report. Our management of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), where we hired both a new director and deputy director, has now earned us an Outstanding performance rating from the Department of Energy for ten consecutive rating periods. And many MRI staff, from energy experts to traffic engineers, received national awards this past year, each one demonstrating the commitment to serving our clients, one breakthrough at a time.

Dr. Spigarelli's Executive Profile

President Bush reinforced our sense of mission at NREL recently, when he visited the laboratory and encouraged staff to continue their important work in renewable energy. The President’s visit highlighted an increasing national emphasis on making energy both efficient and renewable, goals that NREL scientists are pursuing through diverse strategies that range from creating fuel from biomass to harnessing the power of hydrogen.

So this year finds me very thankful to all our clients for keeping us hard at work on projects of such importance—from testing for diseases in newborns to building mobile, air-sampling laboratories that can go virtually anywhere. In addition, I am particularly proud of the efforts of our staff through the year, both in and out of the laboratory. They have contributed not only to our customers’ success, but, through their own generosity, to the success of many in our community.

I am thankful for the tremendous support and guidance we continue to receive from our Board of Trustees, who are a critical part of MRI’s success. They regularly reinforce our mission, as stated in MRI’s original Articles of Agreement, “to foster the exchange of technical experience and research results to … all … who may be benefited by the application of ... science.”

James L. Spigarelli
President and Chief Executive Officer