VLS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Vice President - Environmental, Health, Safety, and Compliance
Alex joined VLS in April 2021 as the EHS Director for our Waste Division and later assumed the role of Vice President of Environmental, Health, Safety, and Compliance. Prior to joining VLS, Alex was the EHS Director for Atlantic Plant Maintenance, an affiliate organization of General Electric.
Alex is a native Houstonian with over 20 years of military service and over a decade of civilian EHS and leadership experience. Alex's strategic mindset and leadership capabilities have been proven to invaluable in consistent improvement in safety performance and systems in previous organizations such as General Electric, Veolia Industrial Services, and Chevron Phillips. Alex believes that superior EHS performance is a byproduct of a strong operational mindset and commitment to integrity an doing the right thing. This perspective is directly aligned with VLS Recovery Services' core values and is indicative of the pinnacle performance and service that is expected within our organization.
Alex holds Associate Safety Professional and Certified Safety Professional designations from the Board of Certified Safety Professionals and attended Columbia Southern University for his Master's degree in Occupational Health and Safety as well as his MBA.
Job Titles:
- General Counsel and Head of ESG
- Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Texas Hearing Institute
Brian brings several decades of legal, transactional, and corporate governance experience to VLS. He is responsible for the Company's legal affairs, as well as working across the Company's functions to drive its environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy.
Prior to VLS, Brian held various executive roles at SeaOne Holdings, an energy infrastructure project development company. At SeaOne, Brian led the company's legal, finance and government relations functions. Prior to SeaOne, Brian served as General Counsel of Oiltanking Partners, a publicly-listed operator of marine bulk liquid storage terminals and pipelines.
Brian began his career as a corporate lawyer at Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York and Vinson & Elkins in Houston. He advised businesses, investors, and financial institutions on mergers & acquisitions, financing, and corporate governance matters.
Brian serves as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Texas Hearing Institute, a non-profit dedicated to helping children with hearing loss. He is the former Chairman of the Texas Children's Hospital Bad Pants Open, which raises funds for the hospital's Newborn Center. Brian also serves as a Trustee of the West University Elementary Foundation, and is a former Zoning and Planning Commissioner of the City of West University Place.
Brian holds a B.A. from Washington & Lee University and a J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law. He is a a member of the Texas and New York State bars.
Job Titles:
- Chief Human Resources Officer
- Chief Human Resources Offices
Corinna joined VLS in September 2022 as Chief Human Resources Offices. She brings tremendous leadership and guidance on VLS's human resources operations. In addition, she will oversee the setting, enforcement, and evaluation of human resource policies and procedures and implement long-range strategic talent management goals for the Company.
Before joining VLS, Corinna served as vice president of human resources for the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, where she was recruited to provide subject matter expertise for organization effectiveness, culture, talent management, and learning and development. Prior to leading the 1,300 people at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, she spent the majority of her career serving in various human resources positions at Eni Corporate in locations all across the globe.
Corinna earned her bachelor's degree in foreign language and literature at the University of Pisa in Italy and her Master of Business Administration from the Jesse H. Jones School of Business at Texas Southern University in Houston. She is a certified SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP).
Corinna has been a featured speaker at the Gulf Coast Symposium on HR issues, the LEAP HR Oil and Gas conference, the Texas Diversity Council, and Rice University.
Job Titles:
- Vice President of Railcar Services
David joined VLS in July 2019 as Vice President of Railcar Services after a 22-year career with its former parent company, Royal Vopak. His career has included critical roles in all facets of the business including Operations, Sales and Marketing, EHS, and Business Development.
After starting his career in EHS & Operations in Houston, David was transferred to Vopak's international headquarters in Rotterdam where he managed global teams, establishing best practices in operations and safety across a global network of terminals. David then accepted the position of Managing Director for a joint venture between Vopak and Royal Dutch Shell where he successfully shut down the former Coryton Oil Refinery and converted its assets into a world class fuel import and distribution storage terminal for the UK.
After almost 10 years abroad, David was given the responsibility of managing the largest and most complex terminal within Vopak's global network, which brought him back to the US and to Houston. Under David's leadership, the terminal realized its highest personnel and process safety performance in 10 years, developed and executed capital growth projects valued over $100 million, and achieved a 20% improvement in EBITDA margin.
David has a Bachelor of Science degree in Marine Fisheries from Texas A&M University. Upon graduation, he worked for the National Marine Fisheries Service where he tracked endangered Kemp's ridley, green, and loggerhead sea turtles along the US Gulf Coast.In his spare time, he enjoys live music and traveling with his wife Jennifer.
Job Titles:
- Vice President of Marine Services
- Vice President of the Marine and Industrial Division
In 2004 Eddie started Tubal-Cain Marine Services , then in 2008 Gas Free Services, in 2016 Calcasieu location as well as Industrial Services. All 4 companies grew to over 200 employees and over $40m revenue.
Eddie joined VLS in the acquisition of Tubal Cain Marine in July 2019 as Vice President of Marine Services. Eddie and his team have built a tremendous commitment to their clients. He has continued the expansion of VLS' service offerings to better serve petrochemical and refinery customers that continue to add production capacity along the Gulf Coast.
Eddie has a BBA in Management & Marketing from University of Mary-Hardin Baylor. In his spare time, he enjoys traveling and spending time with family.
Job Titles:
- Strategy and Corporate Development Executive
- Vice President - Corporate Business Development
Gabriel Villasmil is a Strategy and Corporate Development Executive with nine years of experience in corporate strategy, M&A, and business development. Before joining VLS, Gabriel was a Director of Strategy and Corporate Development for Veolia North America, where he participated and closed several strategic deals for Veolia's operations in the U.S.
Before joining Veolia in July 2018, he served as Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Energy Maintenance Services (EMS, now Linestar). EMS is a private equity-backed company focused on integrity maintenance services for major oil & gas companies throughout North America. He successfully led the company's strategy, corporate, and business development efforts; he identified and closed several strategic opportunities for the business and was part of the management team that marketed and closed the sale to another private equity firm in 2017.
Before joining EMS, he was Director of Strategy and Corporate Development for Aegion Corporation, a global, leading supplier of water and energy infrastructure technology and services for municipalities and industry. At Aegion, he was responsible for developing the strategic goals of the energy segment and evaluated numerous potential acquisition targets. He was also responsible for producing several market intelligence and competitive intelligence insights for the executive team.
Before completing an MBA, he held the positions of Senior Electrical Design Engineer for Baker Hughes and Schlumberger. In these two global leading oilfield services companies, he was responsible for designing and developing electronic equipment used in oil and gas exploration and production operations.
Gabriel received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Universidad Metropolitana in Caracas, Venezuela. Gabriel also received an M.Sc in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, and an M.B.A. with a concentration in Finance from Rice University's Jones Graduate School of Business in Houston, Texas. He lives with his wife and two children in Houston, where he has resided since 2003.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- President
John Magee joined VLS Environmental Solutions (VLS) in January of 2020 as the President and CEO. With more than 2 decades of experience in the transportation industry and a track record of building exceptional organizations, John is fully committed to delivering unique and innovative solutions in waste management, railcar cleaning, and marine services.
He began his business career in 1994 with Eagle Global Logistics (EGL) and became an integral part of its growth into one of the largest global freight forwarding companies in the United States. John served in roles such as National Account Manager, Managing Director, Vice President of the South Pacific, Vice President of the U.K., Ireland and Benelux, and Senior Vice President of the South-Central U.S./Latin America region. He retired from the company upon its 2007 acquisition by CEVA Logistics.
John later took on the position of President and CEO of Crane Worldwide Logistics. Under his leadership, Crane Worldwide grew from 12 offices and $40M in business in 2008, to 120 offices in 30 countries and did almost $1B in 2019. His experiences make him uniquely qualified to help VLS become an industry leader in waste management, marine services, and railcar cleaning.
John was named EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ 2014 Gulf Coast Area in the Manufacturing and Distribution division and is a member of YPO (Young Presidents Organization). His bachelor's degree in Business Administration was conferred by the University of North Texas in 1994, where John now sits on the Board of their Center of Logistics within their Business School.
John has been married to his wife, Sally, for 23 years and has 3 children, Adelaide, Camille, and Declan. In his free time, John enjoys traveling, spending time with his family and cooking.
Job Titles:
- Executive Vice President - Waste Services Division
Kris joined VLS in March 2023 as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Kris has extensive finance, accounting, mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, investing and leadership experience.
Prior to VLS, Kris was the CFO of FlexSteel Technologies, a business generating revenue of approximately $350 million a year when it was acquired by Cactus, Inc. in February 2023, and Director of Investments for Prime NRI, an investment holding company backed by one of the largest financial institutions based in New York. Previously Kris was the CFO of a directional drilling company, an investment banker with Simmons & Company and a Field Artillery Officer in the U.S. Army.
Kris holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the United States Military Academy at West Point and an MBA with a concentration in finance from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas in Austin.
Job Titles:
- Chief Information Officer
Raul began with VLS in May 2022. He was most recently with Saber Power Services.
Raul is a senior financial and technology executive with a proven record in providing strategic financial leadership, and business process improvement for service organizations. He is recognized for developing and implementing financial and operational controls focusing on value creation and sustainable growth in fast paced environments.
Raul's previous experience was 10 years at Saber Power Services, LLC -an Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) firm in the High Voltage Electrical space, servicing as VP of Technology and subsequently CFO. Prior to that, he spent 13 years at Omni Data Services Group -a re-manufacturer of specialty travel-related hardware and a I.T. managed service provider, performing a variety of roles in finance & accounting, I.T. operations & quality (ISO) areas, rising to senior leadership.
Raul graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BBA from University of Houston-Downtown. He holds a M.S. from University of Houston-Clear Lake and a MBA from Rice University - Jones Graduate School of Business.
Robert has over 30 years of operational leadership, specializing in sales, marketing, and strategic management in the Environmental Services industry, most recently with as Senior Vice President with Veolia North America, where led tremendous increases in top and bottom lines while developing commercial strategy and new business lines in retail, government services, healthcare services, and engineering and consulting services. Prior to that, Wheatley was Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing for ACV Enviro, where he led successful venture capital integrations of firms providing disposal, remediation, and lab pack and field services.
Robert began his career in environmental services as a laboratory research technician and earned continually increasing responsibilities in sales and marketing with success at every level. At The Environmental Quality company (EQ), where he spent 25 years, Rob launched a national accounts program, designed, and instituted an award-winning customer service department, and participated in numerous acquisitions culminating in the sale of EQ to US Ecology.
Robert completed his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from The Ohio State University and received his Master of Business Administration from the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business.