Born: I was born March 19, 1966, in New Orleans.
Education: I took some classes at University of New Orleans and Loyola University New Orleans, but I stopped going at the start of my second year. I enjoyed the after-hours activities too much.
Family: I’ve been married to my wife Gretchen since November 1992. We have three adult children—Nicholas (42), Gretchen’s son from her previous marriage; Sara (28); and Olivia (27).
When and how did you enter the recycling industry? I needed a job in the summer of 1986. My uncle was a manager at Ed Levy Metals, a scrapyard in downtown New Orleans. I started out as a part-time laborer, loading and unloading trucks. In the fall of 1987, after I stopped going to college, I began working there full time, first in the scalehouse, then the warehouse doing inventory control and some buying and selling. I left Ed Levy in 1991 and started working as an industrial buyer at Goldin Industries’ facility in New Orleans. I stayed there until 1995, when I took a job with Commercial Metals Co. in Orlando, Fla. I saw going with CMC as the best opportunity for me to grow in the industry. I was the marketing manager in Orlando until 1999, when I became plant manager of CMC’s operation in El Paso, Texas. In 2006, I took a position as marketing manager at the CMC Liberty plant in Dallas, where I’ve been ever since.
What was it about the industry that prompted you to build a career in it? The people and the trading. I love the diverse range of people I deal with in this industry, and I love haggling and making deals so that customers want to come back.
What have been your most rewarding professional achievements? I think the GCR 2022 summer convention in New Orleans has been my most rewarding achievement. That event allowed me to combine my passion for the city and my passion for this industry into a convention that was well-attended and well-received. I’m also proud of my 27 years with CMC. For the past 12 years or so, I’ve been part of the company’s group that trains new sales staff in “Selling the CMC Way.” Being asked to do that for the corporation was quite an honor and has been very rewarding in its own right.
What are you passionate about? My family, my native city of New Orleans, and my industry. I also love to cook—mainly New Orleans cuisine. And I love making friends and learning about people.
Tell us something about you that would surprise people. I grew up riding a Mardi Gras float with my parents from the age of 6 to 22. I never saw Mardi Gras from the street until I was 23 years old. It was a great way to grow up. I’m also a political junkie. I really enjoy all the political policy and engagement stuff. And I cut my own grass. I’m extremely anal about my lawn.
If you could improve anything about yourself, what would it be? I wish I had two life skills: First, I wish I was a runner. It would be easier to maintain my food lifestyle if I had that type of exercise regimen. And second, I wish I was a book reader. I’m an article-reading fool, but sitting down with a book just doesn’t hold my interest.
What do you like to do in your free time? I’ll watch any sport on TV. I like to get back to New Orleans as often as I can to visit family and get out into the city. I love to dine out. And I also I love entertaining and socializing at home. We have a Christmas party every year that can attract 80-plus people, and we prepare all the food ourselves.
When did you become a GCR leader, and which GCR leadership positions have you held so far? I started out as GCR’s golf tournament chair in 2013 or 2014 and continued doing that until 2019. I love playing golf, and GCR’s annual golf tournament raises money for a great cause—the GCR scholarship fund. From about 2015 to 2019, I also served on the GCR board. Then Mel Wright [of Wright’s Scrap Metals] and Charles Johnson [of M. Lipsitz & Co.] asked me to become a GCR officer, and I was elected as GCR secretary/treasurer in 2019. I was extremely honored to be asked, and CMC has been very supportive of my leadership work.
What benefits have you received from your GCR involvement? Obviously, the networking opportunity—you can’t put a price tag on that. In my leadership positions, I’ve met people from the Gulf Coast Region as well as all over the United States. I’ve enjoyed working with different GCR and ISRI members on industry issues and finding common ground. Those connections often turn into business relationships and, more importantly, friendships that can become very deep.
What are the major challenges facing your company and the overall recycling industry today? In my view, the most prominent issue is environmental justice. A lot of yards are located in areas that some people may consider to be environmental justice zones. As an industry, our biggest challenge is explaining the value we’ve brought to those communities for many years, the value we continue to offer, and what we plan on doing going forward—because if we don’t tell our story, other people will tell it for us. That’s why it’s so important for us to get involved in advocacy. When I entered this industry, we kept our heads low—out of sight, out of mind—but then you have no control over the narrative, and other people will make up that narrative. We’re much better telling our own story. We’re the original recyclers, after all, so we have a great story to tell.
