Republic Services

Brian Bales is EVP, Chief Development Officer. In this role, he is responsible for maximizing the Company’s external growth opportunities through business expansion in 240 markets, including Republic Services’ recycling centers, landfill gas and energy renewable projects and approximately $100 million in acquisitions each year.

Brian oversees Market Planning & Development, Market Portfolio Management, Mergers & Acquisitions, Recycling & Sustainability, Infrastructure Development and Investments, Industry and Government Affairs, Alliance Development & Management, and Business Expansion including Emerging Businesses Development and Operations, including Energy Services and E&P Development. 

Brian has nearly 20 years of experience in the waste and recycling industry. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Tennessee and is a certified public accountant.

Catharine Ellingsen is EVP, Chief Legal Officer, Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer and Corporate Secretary. In this role, she is responsible for overseeing the Company’s legal affairs and ensuring Republic upholds the highest ethical standards for our customers, employees, and shareholders.

She oversees Legal Services, Board and Corporate Governance, Corporate Compliance, Enterprise Risk Management, and Labor Relations. Additionally, Catharine is the Executive Sponsor of the Company's Diversity & Inclusion Council.

Catharine has nearly 20 years of experience in the recycling and waste services industry. She received her bachelor’s degree in political science and history from Wheaton College and her JD from the Washington College of Law, The American University.

Donald “Don” W. Slager is Chief Executive Officer of Republic Services, Inc., an industry leader in the recycling and waste services industry. The company generates $10 billion of annual revenue and operates one of the largest vocational fleets in the nation. Don has decades of experience in the industry, starting his career as a teenager and subsequently working at all levels within the organization. He has served Republic Services and its legacy companies for more than 30 years.

As CEO, Don has built a leadership team that has taken a holding company of hundreds of subsidiaries and shaped it into a unified American brand that stands for customer-focused simple solutions, reliability and environmental responsibility under its We’ll handle it from here.™ brand promise. Republic Services’ industry-leading safety program reflects his commitment to ensuring safety for 36,000 employees and 14 million customers, a successful model that has raised the bar across the industry.

Don and the Republic Services leadership team, alongside the company’s dedicated employees, are passionate about achieving the goal of becoming America’s preferred recycling and waste services partner. He has overseen the strategy, growth and strong performance of the company and delivered outstanding shareholder value with a relentless focus on safety, customer experience, sound environmental practices and good neighbor principles. Under Don’s leadership, Republic Services’ market cap has more than doubled.

In his career, he has served in a wide variety of leadership positions, including President and Chief Operating Officer of Republic Services prior to becoming CEO in 2011. He was President and Chief Operating Officer of Allied Waste Industries from 2003 until Republic Services’ acquisition of the company in 2008. Don held management roles of increasing responsibility at Allied (and formerly National Waste Services) from 1985 through 2008, including Senior Vice President of Operations, Region President, Area President and General Manager.

In addition to serving on Republic Services’ Board of Directors since 2010, Don currently serves on the Board of Martin Marietta, a leading supplier of aggregates and heavy building materials. He is a member of the Finance Committee and the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. He also is a member of the Board of the Arizona Commerce Authority, and a governing board member of Together for Safer Roads, an innovative coalition that brings together global private sector companies across industries to collaborate on improving road safety. From 2009 until 2016, Don served on the Board of UTi Worldwide as Chairman of its Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and member of its Compensation Committee.

Don earned a certificate from the Stanford University Board Consortium Development Program and completed the Northwestern University Kellogg School Advanced Executive Program.

Jeff Hughes is EVP, Chief Administrative Officer. He is responsible for building talent to support our growth initiatives, which includes succession planning and leadership development. He oversees Human Resources, Benefits & Compensation, Learning & Talent Development, and Procurement. Jeff is dedicated to making the Company the place where the best people come to work. And Jeff has made significant strides in accomplishing this goal. From creating a culture of learning to spotlighting our drivers and technicians through the Republic Services Truck ROAD-EO, Jeff and his team strive to ensure all 36,000 employees feel valued, developed and engaged.

Jeff has more than 30 years of experience in the recycling and waste services industry and holds a bachelor’s degree in politics and government from Ripon College.

Jon Vander Ark is President of Republic Services, Inc. He is responsible for the Company’s ongoing transformation and continued growth, and oversees operations, sales, marketing and business development. 

Previously, Jon served as Chief Operating Officer, where he was responsible for operationalizing the Company’s strategy and executing its business plan across field operations. He also maintained functional responsibility for all operational support departments, including safety, engineering, environmental compliance and fleet management, which includes the seventh largest vocational truck fleet in the country.

Prior to that, Jon was EVP, Operations, leading Republic’s field performance and ensuring superior service delivery. He led financial and operational achievements across the Company’s operations in the eastern half of the U.S., which represented approximately $5 billion of annualized revenues. Earlier he maintained the same oversight for the western half of the Company’s operations. 

Jon joined Republic Services in 2013 as EVP, Chief Marketing Officer, where he was responsible for establishing the Republic Services brand and advancing its customer-centric service approach. 

Prior to Republic, he served as a partner at McKinsey & Company’s Detroit office, managing clients across a variety of industries, including transportation, logistics, manufacturing and consumer products. 

Jon serves on the Board of Chances for Children, a 501c3 organization that uplifts the children of Haiti through a variety of programs to encourage the movement of a community from survival, to stability and sustainability. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Calvin College and a Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School.

Sue Klug is EVP, Chief Marketing Officer. In this role, she sets the customer development strategies that strengthen our Republic Services brand across our 240 markets in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

Sue oversees all aspects of marketing, product development, revenue management, and corporate communications. Her responsibilities include customer research, corporate communications, new product development and launch, brand awareness, e-commerce, digital marketing, revenue analytics, and overall revenue management. In 2016, Sue’s team examined feedback from nearly 100,000 customers that generated insights leading to a number of actions, improvements, and innovations in new product development and service enhancements.  This commitment to customer insights led to the successful launch of two new products: Electronics Recycling with BlueGuard™ and Universal Recycling, as well as continued updates to our e-commerce platform and My Resource app. 

Sue is committed to supporting education and philanthropic efforts. She sits on the University of Southern California Marshall Graduate School of Business Advisory Board and the Orange County Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Board.

Sue has over 27 years of experience in marketing. She holds a bachelor’s degree in food industry management and an MBA from the University of Southern California.

Tim Stuart is Chief Operating Officer of Republic Services, Inc. He is responsible for operationalizing the Company’s strategy and executing its business plan across field operations. He also has functional responsibility for all operational support departments, including safety, engineering, environmental compliance and fleet management, which includes the seventh largest vocational truck fleet in the country.

Beginning in 2016, Tim served as EVP, Operations. In this role he was responsible for maximizing field performance, ensuring superior service delivery, executing the operating plan and achieving financial and operational results across the Company.

Tim has deep experience across all aspects of business operations. He joined the Company in 2006 as Director of Operations, and has held roles of increasing responsibility, including Area President, Vice President of Customer Experience, Region Vice President and Region President. During his tenure, Tim pioneered Republic’s customer experience efforts, implementing service commitment methodologies and metrics.

Tim holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Alabama and an MBA from Florida Gulf Coast University. He also earned the Green and Lean certification from Villanova University. 

Tom Lynch is EVP, Chief Customer Officer. In this role, he oversees the customer experience lifecycle from the initial sale to customer service. Under Tom’s leadership, both the sales and customer experience teams have transformed allowing Republic to be closer to our customers than ever before. With the introduction of cutting-edge sales technology, new processes, and dedicated alignments, the sales team ensures a superior, tailored experience for every customer whether they are residential, commercial, municipal, manufacturing or a national account. Additionally, under Tom’s leadership, Republic recently created the Customer Resource Centers – three modern, high-tech customer-focused facilities staffed by expertly trained representatives who serve one million customers per day.

Tom has nearly 30 years of experience in sales and customer-focused roles. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and marketing from the University of Arizona.