Executive Leadership Team

Bob Preston is Synagro’s Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Synagro’s Board of Directors. He is an experienced business leader, having helmed multibillion-dollar regional and global businesses for U.S. multinationals, and served as a private-equity CEO twice before joining Synagro. He began his career at DuPont, and rapidly moved into senior operating positions at Allied-Signal, Johnson Electric and Honeywell before becoming Eastman Chemical Company’s Asia president. Bob then moved to J.B. Poindexter, Inc., where he tripled operating income in his two years as chief operating officer. He was recruited as CEO of Davis-Standard, LLC for ONCAP, where he spearheaded the company’s expansion into Asia and development of Davis’ DSX extrusion coating technology. From 2014 to 2018, Bob led GSE Environmental to a successful exit from ownership by Littlejohn & Co. after growing EBITDA 240% in just three years.

Bob has a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Northeastern University and a master’s degree in Engineering from Rutgers University. He is a Six Sigma Black Belt.

Kaivan Desai is Synagro’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO). He is an experienced financial executive with a successful record in public and private equity-backed companies across a diverse set of industries and business cycles.
He began his career at GE Capital, where he was a financial analyst. Kaivan later spent more than 20 years at GE, in a series of finance leadership roles at GE Aviation, GE Water & Process Technologies, GE Oil & Gas and GE Power. He then moved to CFO roles at NCR Corporation, Hardware and Artera Services, before joining Synagro.

Kaivan holds a bachelor’s degree in Finance & International Studies from Indiana University Bloomington in Bloomington, Indiana.

Pam Racey is Synagro’s Chief Commercial Officer (CCO). As such, she is responsible for Synagro’s business development, rail and services sales, product marketing and strategy functions. In her previous role as Synagro’s vice president, Business Development, she led the team which helps municipalities site and operate Class A biosolids recycling facilities, and the group that manages more than 150 municipal contracts taking biosolids into our compost and thermal reduction facilities. She has more than 30 years of experience in the implementation and operation of municipal biosolids management projects. Pam’s career has been dedicated to many different facets of biosolids management including permitting, public outreach, regulatory and legislative affairs, utilization of biosolids products, and solution development. For the past 15 years, she has focused specifically on developing and implementing public private partnerships for Synagro’s biosolids management facilities. Pam has led the company’s efforts on eleven heat-drying and pelletization projects, five biosolids compost projects, two thermal conversion projects, one digestion project, and dozens of dewatering and multi-faceted land application projects. These projects include two Canadian P3 projects – one in Hamilton Ontario and the other with the Capital Region District in Victoria, British Columbia. In addition, she pioneered the company’s initiative to utilize biosolids pellets as a renewable energy source with Lehigh Cement in Union Bridge, Maryland.

Pam holds a bachelor’s degree in Agriculture from Pennsylvania State University. She is a member of the Water Environment Federation and an affiliate member of the National Association of Clean Water Agencies.

Angela Dicke is Synagro’s Vice President of Human Resources. She has served in people management and leadership roles for more than 15 years. Prior to Synagro, she led multiple Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene-based programs for the Anne Arundel County Department of Health. There, she managed program employees and leveraged her contract knowledge, business acumen and people skills to implement a new, highly successful cancer screening program. Angela joined Synagro as part of a shared services team in 2016 demonstrating her vast human resources knowledge and ability to remain malleable given the Synagro’s evolving landscape. Angela’s leadership skills were quickly recognized as she moved to human resources roles in project management and regional management, before becoming a director. Through her leadership, Angela has assembled an extremely skilled team dedicated to supporting Synagro’s employees.

Angela is member of the Society for Human Resources Management as well as the Chesapeake Human Resources Association.

Al Slepian is Synagro’s General Counsel, Secretary and Chief Compliance Officer. In this role, he is responsible for the group providing Synagro’s legal and advisory services, including mergers and acquisitions, contract support, litigation, and Federal and State compliance monitoring and reporting. He has specific subject matter expertise in municipal contracting and deal negotiation, in addition to M&A, having supported Synagro’s Nursery Products, Old Line Environmental and Pace Dewatering Systems due diligence and acquisitions. Al has been with Synagro since 2014, when he joined as Senior Counsel, Commercial Transactions. He moved into the General Counsel role in 2015. Al started his in-house career as Assistant General Counsel at PG&E National Energy Group, before moving to a role as Senior Vice President and General Counsel for Argos Utilities Corporation. In both of these roles, Al developed deep subject matter expertise in the power generation industry and legal support for large-scale construction projects. Al later served as Associate General Counsel at USEC, Inc. (now Centrus Energy) before joining Synagro.

Al holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and History from Duke University and a juris doctorate degree from Columbia University. He is admitted to the bar in New York.

Matt Busch is Synagro’s Senior Vice President of Dryers and Incinerators. He has full responsibility for the safety, regulatory compliance, financial and operational performance of Synagro’s dryer fleet, including facilities at Pinellas, Florida; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Hagerstown, Maryland; Baltimore, Maryland; Camden, New Jersey; Stamford, Connecticut and North Andover, Massachusetts, and incinerators in Woonsocket, Rhode Island and New Haven and Waterbury, Connecticut. Matt’s long history running facilities, and his industry leading knowledge also help him constantly improve the performance of our facilities and expertly onboard all new plant and operations managers. Matt was also a key member the Synagro teams that have recently won new dryer contracts at Windsor, Ontario, Hamilton, Ontario and Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, and Fort Worth, Texas. Prior to Synagro, Matt worked for Bausch & Lomb Surgical manufacturing surgical implants and Concurrent Technologies where he worked to develop specialized electronics recycling process for the United States Military. He began his career at Raymond James Financial.

Matt has completed certifications in Wastewater Treatment Management from the University of Florida and Operation of Wastewater Treatment Plants from California State University, Sacramento. He has also held a Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator Level A License, issued by the State of Florida Department of Environmental Protection since 2007 and has longstanding affiliations with the Florida Water and Pollution Control Operators Association and the Water Environment Federation. Matt completed a certification in Electrical Wiring and Motor Controls from PTEC.

Kip Cleverley is Synagro’s first-ever Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO). As such, he is responsible for leading and driving the company’s efforts in Sustainability and ESG performance. Kip is also Synagro’s Chief Communications Officer. He joined Synagro in April 2023 coming from International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (IFF), where he was vice president of Global Sustainability. There he created and drove the sustainability agenda to achieve global leadership and recognition. Prior to IFF, he led similar efforts at Benjamin Moore & Co. as well as Rockwell International.

He has more than 30 years of progressive experience taking corporate sustainability and ESG programs to award-winning performance levels. Kip specializes in collaborating with internal and external stakeholders to deliver tangible business results (drive growth, reduce costs, mitigate risks and enhance brand) thereby leading companies to higher levels of ESG excellence. Kip is also an accomplished speaker and professor lecturer on the trends and future of sustainability and ESG.

Kip holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering, as well as a Master of Science degree in Environmental Systems Science and a “Green” Master of Business Administration in sustainable business development. He is a transformational change leader and has worked with organizations to advance the global sustainability agenda including the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, World Economic Forum, Natural Resources Stewardship Circle, CDP Global, Paint Care and Together for Sustainability.

Norman Whitelaw is Synagro’s Chief Information Officer. He has more than 30 years of recognized Information Technology leadership experience with specific subject matter expertise in enterprise security, systems architecture, and cloud solutions. Norman came to Synagro from Solmax/ GSE Environmental where he was the Chief Information Officer. Norman led several key IT initiatives during his eight-year tenure, contributing to a successful sale of the company. Prior to that, he held a variety of IT leadership positions for large multinational, multi-billion dollar corporations such as LyondellBasell, KBR and Halliburton. He played a key IT role in the merger of Lyondell and Basell, spin-off of KBR from Halliburton, and eventual IPO of KBR. Norman designed and deployed the IT support infrastructure supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom for a large government contractor and has participated in numerous Microsoft case studies where he was recognized as a pioneer in the IT industry. He is also a Certified Information Systems Security Professional.

Brent Proudfoot is Synagro’s Vice President of Health and Safety. In this role, he is responsible for reducing risk, ensuring compliance and driving continuous improvement by using integrated business systems. He also collaborates with corporate leaders to provide health and safety insight for strategic decisions. Since joining Synagro, Brent has led the implementation of initiatives focused on proactive health and safety metrics to drive down incidents and injuries. Before joining Synagro in 2017, he was the senior manager for Global Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) at ChemTreat where he oversaw EHS for approximately 1,800 employees throughout North and South America. Prior to ChemTreat, Brent was an EHS manager at Lockheed Martin where he supported a billion-dollar contract providing services for multi-tenent government facilities in New Mexico and Virginia. Brent has also been an EHS leader at Honeywell, Shockey Precast and Modern Continental South.

Brent is a Certified Safety Professional and holds a bachelor’s degree in Safety and Environmental Engineering Technology from Fairmont State University and a master’s degree in Safety Management from West Virginia University.

Yolanda Chen is Synagro’s Senior Vice President of Finance. She is seasoned finance leader with experience in both public and private sectors from risk management, telecommunications, and high-tech manufacturing industries. She has experience in corporate finance, treasury, corporate governance, business intelligence, mergers and acquisition, with strong leadership deep-rooted in trust and integrity. Yolanda is recognized as a dynamic change leader, and a forward-thinking strategic partner.

Prior to joining Synagro, as a vice president of finance for a private equity-owned multinational company, Yolanda restructured and streamlined finance functions across multiple countries, platforms and currencies, deployed A standardized global payroll platform in multiple regions, supported global supply chain and quotation continuous improvement effort, managed greenfield in Asia to navigate supply chain tariff risk, and as a part of the leadership team, propelled the company to double-digit growth four consecutive years.

Yolanda holds a bachelor’s degree in Commerce from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and a master’s degree in Finance from the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University. She was one of the first organizers for Women of MFin, an organization at Queen’s with a nationwide outreach to assist, promote and accelerate women’s careers in the finance industry, facilitate discussions on gender equality corporate culture and policies, and provide resources for women from less-privileged backgrounds to get a fair shot at achieving successful careers.