EREF announces changes to board of directors

The Environmental Research & Education Foundation (EREF) announced changes to its board of directors on March 10.

The election of its 2020-21 officers include:

• Chairman: Pat Carroll, president, Environmental Solutions Group
• Vice chairman: Ven Poole, member of the board of directors, GFL Environmental Inc.
• Secretary/treasurer: James Little, executive vice president of engineering and disposal, Waste Connections Inc.
• Immediate past chair: Jim Dowland, retired corporate vice president of disposal operations, Waste Management

Carroll has been president of the Environmental Solutions Group (ESG) since 2010. ESG, whose corporate headquarters is in Chattanooga, Tennesee, is a combination of Heil Environmental, Marathon Equipment Company, 3^rd Eye, Soft-Pak Software Solutions, Curotto-Can Company, Parts Central and Bayne. Prior to this role, Carroll was the president of DESTACO, a Dover company, for five years. DESTA-CO is a company focused on industrial automation components with manufacturing locations in nine different countries in the U.S., Europe, Asia and South America.

Prior to his role at DESTACO, Carroll was with Terex Corporation for five years—four years as president of the Telelect Utilities business and one year in business development at the corporate headquarters. Prior to his role at Terex, he spent 12 years with Ingersoll-Rand in their construction and mining business where he held a number of positions with increasing global responsibility in sales, marketing, new product development and business unit management.

“This is an exciting time to serve as EREF’s board chairman. With its recent growth, both from a programmatic and staffing perspective, the foundation is in a prime position to lead scientific discussions surrounding all aspects of solid waste,” Carroll says. “Expect to see a lot of crucial data and information coming from EREF this year.”

Poole currently serves on the board of directors of GFL Environmental Inc. Prior to its merger with GFL in 2018, he served as chairman and CEO of Waste Industries for 10 years. Prior to becoming CEO, Poole served as vice president of corporate development for seven years, director of support services for five years and director of risk management for six years. Prior to joining Waste Industries, Ven was a senior engineer with Martin Marietta Orlando Aerospace. Poole has more than 28 years of experience in the solid waste industry. In 2019, he was inducted into the NWRA Hall of Fame.

Little has been executive vice president of engineering and disposal at Waste Connections since July 2019. Before that, he served as senior vice president of engineering and disposal at Waste Connections. He also served as vice president of engineering at Waste Connections from September 1999 to February 2009 and held various management positions with Waste Management Inc.

Dowland is a registered professional engineer and has spent the last 40 years in the solid waste industry, 19 with BFI followed by 18 with Waste Management Inc. During his last 10 years with Waste Management, Dowland served as corporate vice president of disposal operations, retiring from this role in 2018.

“EREF is fortunate to have a board comprised of remarkable individuals who are passionate about the work we do and who take a hands-on approach to ensure our success,” EREF President and CEO Bryan Staley says.