Born: I was born Aug. 25, 1959, in New Orleans.
Education: I earned a BS in Accounting in 1982 from Loyola University New Orleans.
Family: My wife Lisa and I were married for 34 years before she passed away in June 2020. We had no children, but we raised my nephew—Spenser George Courville-Taylor—from age 6 onward. He’s now 24.
When and how did you enter the recycling industry? While attending Loyola, I became an accountant intern with Gulf Fleet Marine Corp. I continued working there for five years in various positions, but I then decided I didn’t like accounting! So I went to a headhunter with the intent of leaving the financial field. In April1985, the headhunter sent me to an interview at Southern Scrap in New Orleans. At the time, I didn’t even know there was a scrap recycling industry. I sat in my car in front of the company, looking at what I thought were large piles of trash, and I wondered why I was there. After several minutes, I decided to go in for the interview. After numerous interviews over two months with the owners of Southern Scrap—Stanley Diefenthal, Ned Diefenthal, and Jim Diefenthal—they offered me a job as a manager trainee, and I started working there on June 15, 1985. Stanley told me that if I was there only for a paycheck and not a career, I’d be leaving with my tail between my legs within six months. And 36 years later, I’m still at it.
What was it about the industry that prompted you to build a career in it? I’ve always embraced challenges, changes, and opportunities. After a year of intense training and experiencing how dynamic the industry was, the scrap business became part of my DNA. It’s an industry that, with an open mind, you can learn something new every day. Opportunities in this industry are available to anyone with creativity, a strong work ethic, and the desire to succeed.
What have been your most rewarding professional achievements? After approximately four years with Southern Scrap, the Diefenthals gave me the opportunity to develop a new business unit serving the waste-to-energy (WTE) industry. They named me president of Resource Recycling and, in 1988, we signed a 20-year agreement with Wheelabrator Technologies—a leading WTE company at the time—to develop an ash processing and metal recovery system for its WTE facility in Pinellas County, Florida. We completed construction in December 1989 and operated continuously for the next 20 years. Part of our “cutting-edge technology” at the time was eddy-current separation, which was key to our ash processing system and relatively unknown in the recycling industry. Southern was one of the first companies to import the technology from Germany and worked closely with Steinert GmbH to employ the technology. Resource Recycling soon became Steinert’s exclusive U.S. representative for their recovery and separation equipment.
Several years later Steinert and Resource Recycling created a joint venture--Steinert U.S.--to further develop the U.S. market for Steinert’s growing technology. I became president of Steinert U.S. in addition to my duties as president of Resource Recycling.
While building Steinert U.S., Don Wolfram—Resource Recycling’s VP and engineer—and I worked with Steinert GmbH to develop and commercialize technology to use metal detection to recover metallics from waste streams. Based on our concept, Steinert developed its Induction Sorting System, the first sensor-sorting system for the recycling industry. Sensor sorting technology is now commonly used in most shredding operations and waste processing systems.
Personal achievements? My proudest personal achievement is raising my nephew Spenser and watching him develop into a fine young adult. He recently graduated from the University of South Florida School of Business with a degree in entrepreneurship.
What are you passionate about? My family and friends.
Tell us something about you that would surprise people. I was born while my family lived in a house within the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans. I had a pet elephant, lion cub, monkeys, pony, iguana, tortoises, alligator, and flying squirrel as well as more normal pets like dogs, fish, hamsters, and guinea pigs. Currently, my pets include a dog, red-ear slider turtle, and pig.
If you could improve anything about yourself, what would it be? I’d like to increase my level of patience and reduce self-imposed stress.
What do you like to do in your free time? Enjoy family, friends, music, scuba diving, fishing, and water sports.
Why did your company decide to join ISRI and the Gulf Coast Region? We look to ISRI for prompt insight into regulatory and legislative initiatives that impact our industry on the local and national levels as well as ISRI’s safety initiatives. ISRI national and GCR also provide organized forums that allow us to interact with our customers, suppliers, and others.
Which GCR leadership positions have you held? I’m new to the GCR board. I currently serve on a financial working group with fellow GCR members Chip DeJean, Charles Johnson, and Bob Broom. Aside from GCR, I previously served as president of the Florida Recyclers Association.
What benefits have you received from your GCR involvement? Serving in GCR has allowed me, as a representative of EMR Southern, to better understand the challenges our members face. I’ve also been able to develop relationships with more of our members.
What are the major challenges facing your company and the overall recycling industry today? While I believe there are several significant issues facing our industry, the most pressing seems to be environmental justice movements being promoted by individuals and groups that do not understand the benefits our industry provides to our communities.
