The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center in Vicksburg has named two people, who both began their careers in the Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory, to top posts.

Jose Sanchez, who started at the CHL in 1995, has been named deputy director of the lab. Wendy Thompson, who started at the CHL in 1990, is the new regional information officer for Corps of Engineers Corporation Information.

Sanchez had been chief of asset management at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Washington, D.C., since 2008. He has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez. His awards include the Commander’s Award for Civilian Service and the Superior Civilian Service Award. In 2008, Hispanic Business Magazine named him one of its 100 Most Influential U.S. Hispanics. A native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, he and his wife, Daisy, have two children, Jose, 16, and Elizabeth, 10.

Thompson spent 17 years at the CHL before going to work as the customer relations manager for Army Corps of Engineers Information Technology. She most recently was an ERDC customer relations manager at ACE-IT.