Sigurd Lettow - Adapting resources to transform the Laboratory

As a new physics era begins with the start-up of the LHC, one of the major tasks facing the Director for Administration and General Infrastructure is to transform CERN into a laboratory fit to receive more than 9 000 users. However, limited resources impose difficult trade-offs for a Director who also has to oversee the Laboratory’s finances.

Sigurd Lettow is the only Director who has remained in place with the arrival of the new Director-General, Rolf Heuer, and, as Director for Administration and General Infrastructure, he continues to pursue the same priorities he has espoused since his arrival, namely to modernise the Laboratory and prepare it for the LHC’s operational phase. As Sigurd Lettow underlines, "With the new Director General, there is a change in spirit and style, due to his personality and his determination to strengthen communication and adopt an open attitude. However, our priorities are principally connected with the development of the Laboratory."

CERN is moving from a period of construction to an operational phase, from an engineering-oriented era to a physics-oriented one. The role of Sigurd Lettow is to make available the resources that will be needed for CERN to adapt to this new era and become a genuine Laboratory for the users. "We have to find solutions for the consolidation of our infrastructure. Thus, we have started work on the construction of new conference rooms for ALICE and LHCb. We also have to enlarge Restaurant No. 1 and start construction of a new auditorium", he stresses. Adapting to the users also means simplifying procedures for them. "Users should have a single access point for the Laboratory, and a single contact person for a given service. The fusing of general services and infrastructure into a single department is a step forward in this direction," he adds.

Meanwhile, the existing infrastructure is aging and in need of consolidation. "We have to renovate the buildings and, at the same time, the accelerator injector chain," he explains. The task is particularly arduous, given the Laboratory’s limited resources. The efforts made over the past five years have made it possible to reduce the financial difficulties. As Sigurd Lettow points out: "A major success of the previous administration was that it achieved a budget increase, the first in 20 years." Also, with the exception of the cost of repairing Sector 3-4, which is charged to the 2009 Budget, the accounts for LHC construction are now closed. The introduction of management by objectives, whereby budgets are defined as a function of activities and projects rather than by department as in the past, and the introduction of a new CERN-wide planning and control system make it possible to increase the efficiency of the Laboratory. As Sigurd Lettow explains: "We have radically changed the mentality. The question is no longer how we are going to spend the budget. Now, we present activities and objectives to the Council, and the Council allocates the budget needed to make them a reality." This year, for the first time, the Council will receive an annual report from the Management on its objectives for 2008 and the status of their implementation, rather like a MARS exercise for the Directorate. "I am happy to be assessed on my achievements, and not on my ability to spend money," insists Lettow. "These modernisation efforts strengthen the confidence that the Council and funding agencies have in the Laboratory, and help to make the long-term outlook more secure."

Nonetheless, cash-flow remains a thorny problem. CERN must pay off the remainder of the LHC loan and the short-term loans taken up to alleviate cashflow difficulties. "CERN had 400 MCHF of short-term loans at the end of 2008," explains Lettow. Even if the debt is going to diminish significantly—the main loan from the European Investment Bank will be repaid this year—there is almost no financial margin available for funding projects. "As Rolf Heuer has emphasised, we will need to be creative in finding additional funds. We could run more projects by collaborating with the European Union. By strengthening technology and knowledge transfer, we can convince the funding agencies to help us." Another idea is to propose that the community of institutes and laboratories that cooperate with CERN increases its involvement by providing hardware or people, or by taking over entire work packages.

Continuity also remains the watchword in human resources management. Thus, Rolf Heuer has reaffirmed CERN’s commitment to internal mobility. In the past, its promotion encountered numerous obstacles. "Internal mobility has suffered from the barriers that exist between the Departments, even if they are not always visible," explains Lettow. The new system of governance by activities and projects, where teams work together regardless of their departmental affiliation, is helping to break down those barriers. "Thus, more concerted action must be taken to promote internal mobility," he explains. Stronger communication within the Directorate and with the department heads should foster those efforts.

Another important human resources issue currently under review is contract policy, which needs to be adapted, taking into account the lessons learned in the past two years, to meet the new needs. Likewise, the ratio of indefinite to limited-duration contracts have to be adapted to activities. "This ratio is not set in concrete, as one might have thought," explains Sigurd Lettow. "For each activity we have to define: do we want continuity, rotation of incumbents, or a combination of both?" The objective is to ensure an ongoing capability to recruit new talent while retaining existing expertise. This is a key factor in maintaining the Laboratory as a centre of excellence and ensuring a long-term future for CERN.

Sigurd Lettow’s CV in brief

Sigurd Lettow has been Director of Finance and Human Resources at CERN since January 2007. His responsibilities have now been broadened to include general infrastructure as of 1 January 2009. Before coming to CERN, Lettow, 58, who has a background in law and administration, held several key managerial positions within the European science community. Between 1994 and 2001 he was the Head of Administration of the Laue-Langevin Institute (ILL) in Grenoble. Subsequently he became Vice-Chairman of the Executive Board of the Karlsruhe Research Centre in Germany (3500 employees). A year later, he was additionally appointed Vice-President of the Helmholtz Association, which includes the Karlsruhe Research Centre. With 16 000 employees distributed over 15 research centres, including DESY and GSI, the Helmholtz Association is the largest research organisation in Germany. During this time, he was a member of CERN’s External Review Committee, put in place after the 2002 financial crisis.