Company Bios

President and CEO, Veolia Water Americas

Appointed president and CEO for Veolia Water Americas in 2008, Mr. Auguste leads Veolia Water's activities in North and South America. He is a member of the Executive Committee for Veolia Water, the world's No. 1 water company.

The company's North American operations serve 270 municipal and industrial customers and a population of 15 million. South American activities are largely performed through Proactiva Media Ambiente, a joint venture with FCC, a Spanish construction company.

A graduate of the engineering school École Centrale de Lyon, Mr. Auguste began his environmental services career in Tokyo in 1991. He joined Veolia Water as a branch director in France in 1995. In 1999, he established the company's foothold in South Korea, developing some of parent company Veolia Environnement's largest industrial contracts and landing large wastewater build-operate-transfer projects.

In 2002, he became president of Veolia Water Japan, which represents the only substantial foreign water services company operating in Japan.

Executive Vice President, Business Support and General Counsel

Brian Clarke is executive vice president, Business Support and General Counsel, which includes Finance and Accounting, Tax, Legal, Risk Management, Information Technology and Administration. Business Support provides the necessary legal and financial control over the company's activities to ensure full compliance with the letter of the law and the spirit of Veolia's core values. In this capacity, Mr. Clarke is the company's chief financial officer and chief legal officer.

Mr. Clarke has 25 years of corporate experience. Prior to taking on this role, Mr. Clarke was the vice president and general counsel for the North American operations of United States Filter Corporation, where he was responsible for all legal affairs of that company's equipment and services business and was the corporation's environmental attorney.

His previous experience also includes serving as a partner of the Chicago-based firm Seyfarth, Shaw, Fairweather & Geraldson; vice president and associate general counsel for Waste Management; and vice president and general counsel for Chemical Waste Management, the publicly traded hazardous waste services subsidiary of Waste Management.

Mr. Clarke received both his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Illinois in Champaign.

Executive Vice President and Chief Municipal Operations Officer

Mr. Ashcroft provides leadership for a company serving a broad base of municipal and industrial clients in the western area of the United States. The West Business unit's regional service area covers 15 states, including projects in the State of Hawaii, and provides services for municipal water supply, wastewater collection and treatment and biosolids management operations. These operations are supported by a staff of more than 500, as well as a licensed construction contracting subsidiary, Veolia West Operating Services, Inc.

Prior to this, Mr. Ashcroft was the President of Veolia Water North America - Northeast, LLC, with responsibility for managing an operations group that served clients in the New England states, as well as in New York. The Northeast business operates and manages water and wastewater facilities for almost 40 customers with a staff of more than 440.

Mr. Ashcroft's responsibilities in both of these regional company leadership roles has involved managing autonomous business operations group that provide operations, maintenance and management, design-build-operate and related services to a diverse client base.

Mr. Ashcroft previously served as senior vice president of major utility operations for Veolia Water North America, addressing the needs of major operations, capital and related projects in the U.S. and Canada. His expertise was in the area of quality and client satisfaction, achieving success in the turn-around of projects with performance-related concerns. Mr. Ashcroft also focused on building new public-private partnerships, with involvement in the development of Indianapolis Water, the nation's largest water public-private partnership.

Mr. Ashcroft was formerly the operations director for Three Valleys Water, a Veolia Water subsidiary providing water supply to more than 3.3 million people in the Greater London area. This utility operation has been recognized for innovations in the areas of customer service, treatment technologies and quality management—having received ISO 9000 certification.

He has held senior positions in three water utilities in the United Kingdom and has more than 38 years of overall business and corporate management experience, including numerous operational positions in the process and manufacturing industries.

Mr. Ashcroft holds a Bachelors of Science in Geology, Physics and Chemistry from Durham University in Durham, England, and he attended the London Business School.

Executive Vice President, VWNA and President, Central Region

Mr. Wood provides leadership for a company serving municipal customers in a region that encompasses the central and mid-Atlantic United States, as well as all of Canada. He also manages our company's delivery of industrial services for clients throughout North America.

On the municipal side, Mr. Wood directs the work of a team of over 1,000 employees who provide operations, maintenance and management, design-build-operations and related water and wastewater services to a diverse client base. His focus includes expanding our business base with existing clients, building long-term relationships with new clients, and maintaining a focus on the company's quality of service and delivery of value.

In recent years, he has provided leadership for the successful development, procurement and implementation of a public-private partnership with the city of Indianapolis for the management and operation of its water system, as well as a new wastewater partnership with the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD). The Indianapolis project is the largest water partnership in the United States—a 20-year, $1.5 billion contract, which includes operations, management and maintenance, capital projects and customer service for a water system that serves over 1.1 million people daily. The contract with the MMSD represents the largest wastewater partnership in the county -- a 10-year agreement valued at more than $400 million.

On the industrial side he is responsible for managing a team that serves the needs of more than 90 industrial clients at locations in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean. At these sites the company provides water treatment and supply for process and potable use, wastewater collection, treatment and disposal, as well as the management of hazardous and-hazardous industrial wastes. These services are delivered using conventional operations and maintenance contract approaches, and innovative design/build/operate approaches with ownership and financing.

Mr. Wood has almost 40 years of industry experience and has worked with Veolia Water for more than 20 years in project development, client relations, sales and marketing, and project management capacities. Prior to joining Veolia Water, he managed numerous municipal utilities and regional water services companies. His project management experience includes water and wastewater treatment facilities, solid waste projects, industrial pretreatment programs, resource recovery facilities and land application programs.

He is a recipient of the Water Environment Federation's William D. Hatfield Award, which is presented annually to operators of wastewater treatment plants for outstanding performance and professionalism.

Executive Vice President, VWNA

Mr. Gadis provides leadership for Veolia Water Indianapolis, LLC, the company that operates and manages the water treatment, storage and supply system which serves more than 1 million in the City of Indianapolis and central Indiana. The contract also includes a significant capital project component. Indianapolis is the nation's largest public-private partnership for water services.

Mr. Gadis also is responsible for providing operations, maintenance and management, design/build, design/build/operate and related services to municipal clients in the State of Indiana.

Prior to this, Mr. Gadis managed the procurement and operations of the Indianapolis Water operations, with responsibility for administering the project's highly successful minority-owned (MBE), woman-owned (WBE) business enterprise programs. Additionally, Mr. Gadis plays a key role in shaping Veolia Water's national program for MBE/WBE recruitment and involvement in governmental and industrial projects at sites across North America.

Mr. Gadis has almost 20 years of overall business experience, with more than 14 years of management experience. His involvement with the Indianapolis water facilities began back in 1998, working as the Director of Procurement for Indianapolis Water Company. He joined Veolia Water Indianapolis in 2002 on the transition of the water facilities.

In his current role, Mr. Gadis has also been involved in numerous community service organizations in the City of Indianapolis, and currently serves on the boards for the Indianapolis Urban League, Indianapolis Sports Corporation President's Council, Indiana Business Diversity Council, Purdue University Science Bound, St. Mary's Child Development Center and the local Big Ten Basketball Tournament Committee.

Executive Vice President, VWNA and President, East Region

Mr. Nelson provides leadership for a company serving a broad base of municipal clients in the six New England states, as well as in the State of New York. The Northeast business operates and manages water and wastewater facilities for more than 40 customers with a staff of more than 450.

Mr. Nelson's responsibilities include managing an autonomous business operations group that provides operations, maintenance and management, design-build-operations and related water and wastewater services to this diverse client base. His focus includes expanding the company's business base with existing clients, building long-term relationships with new clients and maintaining a focus on service quality and value for the more than 50 communities that Veolia Water serves in the region.

Prior to this, Mr. Nelson was Senior Vice President for Operations and the Capital Programs Management (CPM) group for the Northeast, LLC. In this dual role, he was responsible for directing and supporting design/build, design/build/operate (DBO) and capital project work at Veolia Water operated and managed sites in the region.

Mr. Nelson's other professional experience has involved serving in management and project development roles with Veolia Water predecessor companies. This work included developing Public-Private Partnership project strategies for major municipal projects in the U.S. and Canada, with specific responsibility for developing and managing project teams, design/build and design/build operate projects (from conceptualization to execution), as well as negotiating contracts and labor agreements.

Mr. Nelson holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Civil Structural Design and Construction Management from Pennsylvania State University, and is a Registered Professional Engineer in the states of Pennsylvania and Maryland, as well as the District of Columbia.

Executive Vice President, Human Resources

Mary Lynn Smedinghoff is executive vice president, Human Resources, leading all human resources activities for Veolia Water North America, as well as coordinating human resources initiatives across the Veolia Environnement businesses in North America.

Ms. Smedinghoff joined Veolia Water in 2008 with a wealth of broad and diverse experience spanning more than 20 years in a variety of industries. In addition to her skills as a human resources generalist in areas such as benefits and compensation and labor relations, she has demonstrated expertise in organization development, talent acquisition and management and change management.

Her experience includes tenure with Armco (AK Steel), The NutraSweet Company, Rand McNally & Company and The Millard Group, where she held positions of increasing responsibility. In addition, she owned and managed a Chicago-based human resources consulting practice, providing HR services to small businesses. She has a bachelors degree from the University of Illinois in Management, and Masters of Labor and Industrial Relations from Michigan State.

Executive Vice President, Municipal Business Development

Mr. Jensen provides leadership for Veolia Water's municipal business development and market activities in North America. This includes responsibility for strategizing and implementing business development efforts in the municipal North American market, which encompasses the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean. He leads a municipal marketing team responsible for proposal and bid development, acquisition analysis, and the evaluation of project financing approaches.

Mr. Jensen has led many complex business development initiatives in the utility industry in the U.S. and internationally. His more than 16 years of industry experience has involved the development of concession models applicable to the U.S. municipal environment, the development and structuring of design/build/operate and build/own/operate projects, as well as the outsourcing of water and wastewater projects nationwide. He has also led and coordinated all aspects of project development, been responsible for risk management and for the management of complex internal approval processes and multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural teams.

He joined Veolia Water in 2006, and prior to that worked in developing financial structures to support the optimization of an international water company's asset and investment base. This involved responsibility for the development and structuring of water and wastewater projects in the U.S., covering both the regulated and non-regulated markets, as well as for risk management and internal approval processes. His work involved managing a team of internal engineering, legal and business resources, as well as external financial legal advisors.

Mr. Jensen holds a degree from the European School of Management (Paris, France, Oxford, UK and Berlin, Germany) in Finance and Marketing.

Executive Vice President, Communications

Scott Edwards is executive vice president - Communications of Veolia Water North America and also coordinates communications initiatives for Veolia Environnement North America. With 20 years of experience in marketing communications including 10 years of experience in environmental services, Mr. Edwards provides strategic direction to the company's communications activities.

He is responsible for communications and community relations functions for Veolia Water North America's operations in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean. He has authored and co-authored numerous articles in governmental, public works and water industry trade publications.

As a communications consultant, Mr. Edwards has received a number of awards from the Public Relations Society of America. He received a B.A. in Psychology from Louisiana State University.

Executive Vice President and Chief Technical Officer

Frank Benichou is the executive vice president and chief technical officer (CTO) of VWNA, and heads the Technical Direction Group as part of his role. He is responsible for all activities of the technical department in North America and ensures the application of group strategy, policies and procedures as well as the development and implementation of methodologies and tools.

Mr. Benichou joined Veolia Water in 1995, where he worked in different operational management positions for more than 10 years. From 2005 to 2010, he was the CTO in the Asia Pacific Region. In addition to his responsibilities as a CTO, he collaborated with IT, customer service, purchasing and health and safety.

His previous experience includes Altran Technologies Company where he was a project manager in France and Belgium, and the French General Consulate in Hong Kong as a scientific specialist. He holds a Master degree of Science in Engineering from the Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble, France) and a Master degree of Science in Management from the Boston University in Brussels, Belgium.

Vice President and General Manager, Veolia Water North America - Central, LLC

Mr. Bartkowski serves dual leadership roles with Veolia Water, managing operations and resources in both municipal and industrial sectors.

He provides oversight, management and support to clients in a 17-state regional area that includes the Midwestern area of the U.S., as well as Canada. Mr. Bartkowski manages the delivery of O&M, DBO and related water and wastewater services to approximately 27 industrial clients primarily in the metals, automotive, chemical processing, food and beverage, and consumer products industries.

He has nearly 30 years of engineering experience, including more than 10 years developing and managing water and wastewater treatment projects in the Central U.S. and Canada. He has provided a wide range of services to both public and private-sector clients, from engineering, construction and startup support at steel mills and biosolids facilities, to managing groundwater monitoring systems and sewer system services, to developing and managing water and wastewater treatment projects and related contract and labor negotiations.

Mr. Bartkowski holds a Bachelors degree in Civil Engineering from Pennsylvania State University and an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh. He is a member of the American Iron and Steel Institute, the American Public Works Association and former Director of the Engineers' Society of Western Pennsylvania.

Executive Vice President, Industrial Business Group

In his role executive vice president, Industrial Business Group, Mr. Hopper manages business operations, growth activities and technology development for oil and gas industry and chemical industry clients in the Americas.

This activity includes managing P&L activity for an approximate $95M business unit, consisting of 325 people serving approximately 65 clients through long-term contracts and partnerships.

Mr. Hopper is an experienced business manager with experience in P&L management, operations & maintenance (O&M) management, fixed asset management, investment & risk assessment, service contract negotiations, business development, process engineering and construction management.

Mr. Hopper holds a Bachelors degree in Civil & Environmental Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and an MBA from the University of Houston. He is also active in participating in Executive Programs at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.