Edwin Pinero was named executive vice president, chief sustainability officer of Veolia Water North America. Reporting directly to Laurent Auguste, president and CEO of Veolia Water Americas, Pinero will support the company's sustainability programs while developing and implementing new sustainability solutions for Veolia Water clients.
Pinero brings 30 years of environmental experience in both governmental and private-sector roles. Most recently, he managed sustainable development for Parsons Corp., where he aided federal clients in finding and developing new opportunities for sustainable improvements.
His experience includes serving as the federal environmental executive responsible for advancing the U.S. government's environmental stewardship initiatives, building on the programs of prior administrations while creating and implementing new sustainability programs to further "green" the federal government and reduce its overall environmental footprint. Pinero was appointed to the position in 2003 and reported directly to President George W. Bush until 2008. He helped agencies reduce energy consumption, increase renewable energy use and reduce greenhouse gases. Under his leadership, various federal agencies increased recycling activities, meeting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's national 35% recycling goal, while increasing the use of renewable energy, purchasing enough renewable energy to power more than 280,000 households for a year.
Pinero was the liaison between all federal agencies and focused in the areas of technology and best practices, environmental management systems, industrial ecology, sustainability and federal-state cooperation.
"Sustainability is at the heart of what we deliver, whether in the form of water quality improvements, environmental compliance and economic relief for municipal clients or the provision of resource recovery and value-added environmental compliance and services for industrial clients," said Auguste. "With Edwin's leadership, we will continue to advance the performance of our operations and support our clients while working to ensure sustainable water and environmental resources for society at large."
Pinero's experience also includes serving as the director of Rochester Institute of Technology's Pollution Prevention Institute. Earlier in his career, he held appointed positions in the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, where he gained his first substantive exposure to water and wastewater issues at the state level. He is an expert in a variety of International Organization for Standardization (ISO) processes and has served as a member or chair of several ISO Technical Committees. Pinero also has worked as an environmental consultant and environmental specialist in a variety of capacities. He earned a master's degree in geology from Texas A&M University and a bachelor's degree in geology from State University of New York Brockport.
Source: MarketWatch
