OUR Leadership
Richard d'Abo
Chairman
Key Skills: Business leadership, financial review, and capacity builder
As a co-founder of New Planet Energy, Richard brings decades of experience as an accomplished and strategic business visionary who drives results.
He is a partner in The Yucaipa Companies LLC, a private equity and venture capital firm based in Los Angeles, known for its keen investment strategy. Yucaipa led the $2 billion global restructuring of Eimskip, a publicly-traded Icelandic shipping and logistics company (EIM on Nasdaq Reykjavik), and Richard was at the helm as Eimskip’s chairman from 2013-2018. Yucaipa successfully sold its remaining stake in EIM in 2018.
Richard’s acumen does not stop there. His vision helped elevate Americold Realty Trust (NYSE: COLD) into the largest temperature-controlled storage company in the world. As a trustee of Americold from 2013-2018, he played an instrumental role in the company’s IPO at $16 per share in January 2018, raising primary and secondary proceeds of $833 million. A follow-on offering in September of 2018 raised $1.05 billion in primary and secondary proceeds at $24.50 per share. In February 2019, Yucaipa successfully exited in a secondary offering of $1.3 billion priced at $27.75 per share.
Jay Johnson
Vice Chairman & Treasurer
Key Skills: Award-winning business leadership, financial acumen, risk management
Jay is an experienced business owner and manager whose fortitude is proven in his successes. While he is Vice Chairman and Treasurer of New Planet Energy, he also is Chairman and Principal Owner of HomeWAV which is a leader in video visitation solutions and hardware for correctional institutions. Jay is also a graduate of Illinois State University, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Finance with Departmental Honors and magna cum laude.
He has founded multiple companies, including Johnson Risk Management, which continues to serve farmers and landowners with their risk management, including crop insurance and hedging services. He also founded Johnson Grain, a grain handling and storage facility, and served as its president and CEO until its merger with the Scoular Company of Omaha, Nebraska, in 2010.
Jay has been honored for his work, earning the Small Business Association Person of the Year award for the State of Illinois in 2007. He also was named First Runner up for the National Small Business Association award in Washington, D.C. His entire family was honored as an agricultural family for the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield, IL., upon its dedication in 2005.
R. Andrew Watts
Director
Key Skills: Finance, investments, executive leadership, project management
With more than 25 years of experience in finance, strategic planning, and M&A, Andrew brings exceptional experience to New Planet Energy. The diversity of his experience goes even further with large global organizations, fast growing mid-sized companies, and start- ups. His energy is boundless as he also currently serves as Executive Vice President, CFO, and Treasurer of Brown & Brown Inc., a $2.4 billion diversified insurance agency that is the sixth largest independent intermediary in the country.
His CFO and senior management skills were sharpened during time with Thomson Reuters and PricewaterhouseCoopers, and his board experience includes chairman and investment committee positions with the New Jersey chapters of National Leadership Council and Make A Wish Foundation, as well as the Surflight Theatre, which provides professional live theatre to adults, teens and children in southern New Jersey. Andrew holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Illinois State University and is a certified public accountant (CPA).
Charles “Charlie” Appleby
Director
Key Skills: Solid waste management technical and planning expertise, waste industry business management and leadership
With over forty years of diversified business experience and numerous industry awards to his name, Charlie is an accomplished leader in the solid waste industry. He had the honor of being named to the National Waste & Recycling Association Hall of Fame in 2014, was the Waste and Recycling Magazine Person of the Year in 2012 and an Ernst & Young Florida Regional Entrepreneur of the Year Award Winner in 2009.
As chairman, director, and CEO of Advanced Disposal for eight years, he grew the company into a leading non-hazardous solid waste management company in the United States. Charlie built Advanced Disposal’s network of vertically integrated facilities with 91 operating facilities, 42 landfills, 72 transfer stations and 25 recycling operations in 17 states, employing over 5,000 people and operating a 3,000-truck fleet. He had founded the company in 2000 with two others and was its original CFO.
During his time at Advanced Disposal, Charlie completed over 115 acquisitions, totaling in excess of $2.5 billion.
Prior to founding Advanced Disposal, Charlie was a President and Equity Partner at CAVCO, a private investment company that acquires, invests in, and/or establishes joint ventures with other private companies.
Ryan Bird
CEO
Key Skills: Executive business management, solid waste expertise, project performance management and tracking
Ryan is a proven performer with a knack for developing talent and teams. He joined the New Planet Energy team as CEO in 2017.
He has honed his natural skill set with 20+ years of experience. As area manager for Progressive Waste (now Waste Connections Inc (NYSE: WCN)), he oversaw one of the busiest areas in the United States for waste management in New York City, Long Island, and some landfills in the Northeast region. He earned recognition for “Best Year Over Year Performance,” “Best Sales Performance,” and “Best in Class Safety.” He put his diplomacy skills to the test as the negotiator with New York City officials and competitors to create best practices for disposal and recycling.
He is an efficient and prudent leader, a result of being trained as an accountant at Brigham Young University. As an executive vice president with Global Connect, he created and grew two divisions to reach more than $4 million in annual sales, while helping to set the overall strategy for the company and organizational structure. Ryan began his career in positions with Arthur Andersen and Waste Management.
John Cruikshank
Director
Key Skills: Solid waste management expertise, operations management, renewable energy expertise, regulatory affairs, government relations
John’s passion is waste management and seeking solutions. As co-founder of New Planet Energy, he also currently serves as Director and sits on its board. His experience in waste management, regulatory affairs and government relations is extensive, and he has operated at high levels in the waste and renewable energy industries for nearly 20 years.
Before he co-founded New Planet, John spent six years as president at BioConverter, a waste-to-energy firm in Los Angeles. He draws on this experience to lead New Planet Energy’s efforts to explore new project opportunities, establish and maintain critical relationships with public-sector leadership and their communities, as well as overseeing the permitting and development process.
John earned his Bachelor’s in Business and Marketing from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.
George N Bauer, CFP®, CRPS®
Secretary
Key Skills: Fiscal management and planning, investments, business consulting
With more than 34 years of experience in the finance industry, George brings vast knowledge as corporate secretary on New Planet Energy’s board. His resume includes time with Smith Barney, Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Legg Mason, and Morgan Stanley, where he currently serves as their Corporate Client Group Director. In that role his advisory team provides consulting services to businesses, institutions and high-net-worth individuals.
Bauer graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with Bachelors’ degrees in biochemistry and molecular genetics. George is a certified financial planner, as well as a member of the National Association of Plan Advisors.
Charles “Charley” Dargan, II
CFO
Key Skills: Finance, growth management, investments, risk reduction & management, business administration
With 30-plus years of investment banking and securities experience, Charley has the experience to take a company to its next level. He excels in guiding and preparing early- stage companies for significant growth and executing capital market transactions.
As the founder and President of CFO 911, he works with other senior executives to provide accounting, finance, and operational expertise to both small capitalization public and middle market private companies in all phases of their business life cycle. He also serves as a director of Hiplink Software Inc.
He earned his experience over many decades, including as the CFO of Semotus Solutions Inc., which is wireless mobility software company. His finance career began in investment banking with Drexel Burnham Lambert; later, he would become managing director of two other investment banking firms, including Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin.
Charley earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Government from Dartmouth College. He has an M.B.A. and Master of Science in finance from the University of Southern California. Charley is also a CPA (inactive) and CFA.
Tom Yonge
Chief Engineer
Key Skills: Environmental engineering, civil engineering for commercial & industrial projects, permitting, stormwater management, project management, team leadership
Tom is an experienced Environmental Engineer with a demonstrated history of leading teams in the renewable energy and land development industries, skilled in program management, community outreach, due diligence, civil engineering, and environmental impact assessments for clients in the conventional and renewable energy industry. He is a strong consulting professional with a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Civil Engineering from University of Florida.
Tom has served as an executive in the environmental engineering and development fields for over two decades. Recently, for his own firm, Yonge Development Services, where he oversees Civil Engineering, Program Management, and Environmental Consulting while serving clients with site and project development assistance for residential, commercial, industrial, and alternative energy projects. He also served as Vice President and Director of Engineering for a Residential and Commercial project development firm, A.Y. Ventures, Inc., for nearly fifteen years.
However, before stepping into a leadership role, Tom honed his skills in large-scale engineering and renewable energy projects and project management as a Senior Consultant, Client Manager, and Practice Group Leader with the reputable, Florida-based engineering and planning firm, Golder Associates, where he lead the Project Development Group for waste and renewable energy clients, performing site selection, due diligence, permitting, design and construction oversight for industrial clients in renewable energy, conventional power, waste, and manufacturing industries. Renewable energy projects consist of utility scale solar power and waste conversion/reuse projects, including bioenergy, anaerobic digestion, and waste to energy. He has focused his practice on beneficial reuse of waste projects for over 10 years, establishing a thriving practice working with industry leaders such as New Planet, Fulcrum Bioenergy, Harvest Power, Ineos Bio, Lafarge/Geocycle, CEMEX, and others to help develop sustainable projects and programs to maximize the efficient reuse of waste streams.
Before Golder Associates, Tom served with two other well-renowned engineering firms, CDM Smith and Kimley Horn, as a Project Manager for engineering design projects and a Division Manager/Vice President overseeing $20 million in revenue annually, respectively.
CONTACT
New Planet Energy
OFFICE LOCATIONS
• 84 Island Bay Lane, Springfield, IL 62712
• 907 Westwood Boulevard, Suite 404, Los Angeles, CA 90024
Email:
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