Heartland appoints CEO

Heartland, a Murfreesboro, Tennessee-based provider of commercial and industrial waste treatment and landfill diversion services, has named Mauricio “Mo” Vargas as its president and CEO. He succeeds Christopher Beaufait, a board member since 2017 who has served as president and CEO of Heartland for the past two years.

The biosolids and wastewater treatment firm, which deploys techniques that generate energy products, describes Vargas as “a seasoned CEO who builds teams that bring transformative technologies to market.”

Before joining Heartland, Vargas was CEO of New Mexico-based hydrogen production and distribution firm BayoTech. Prior to that, Vargas had stints at GE, Siemens, Virginia-based energy firm AES Corp. and Lockheed Martin.

“Mo is a dynamic leader with substantial expertise in commercialization of gasification and waste-to-energy technologies, and a long and successful track record of accelerating growth of emerging technologies,” says Robert Cawthorn, Heartland’s board chair.

“As environmental concerns, litigation and state-led actions drive demand for Heartland’s cutting-edge technologies, his background and hands-on leadership style will be invaluable in driving our business forward,” adds Cawthorn.

Remarks Vargas, “Heartland leads with world-class solutions that are not only cost-competitive, but also superior in addressing sustainability, regulatory compliance and resource efficiency.”

Continues Vargas. “I am excited to continue to deploy our waste reducing Heartland Concentrator, which assures [per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances] PFAS separation, and bring to market HelioStorm technology, which has the power to divert waste from landfills and farmlands, upcycle it into high-value clean energy products such as renewable fuels, and provide assured PFAS destruction in a multitude of feedstocks including biosolids. I very much look forward to working with this talented team to make this circular economy a reality for all, minimizing environmental impact on industries and communities alike.”