Andrew Shackett, executive vice president of industrial services for Clean Harbors, brings an operational mindset to the table. BIC Magazine recently sat down with Shackett to learn more about how he’s managing Clean Harbors’ industrial services and what the future has in store for this division.
Q: What led to your position at Clean Harbors?
A: After serving in the Army, I started with a small environmental services company. I joined Clean Harbors in 1993, where I worked my way up through the organization in both field and industrial services. I was promoted to executive vice president in June 2014, where I now oversee our industrial and specialty industrial services to expand our capabilities and broaden our reach.
Q: What is the most important part of your position?
A: Driving safety for our employees and great service for our customers. We’re working very hard to take our business to the next level. I grew up in the industry within Clean Harbors, so I bring an operational, hands-on mindset.
Q: Are you looking to grow in new markets or expand in current ones?
A: Absolutely. We have areas where we might provide only a few services but customers have additional needs. We’re working to expand our offerings and reach into new areas. Geographically, we’re very strong in the greater Gulf Coast and West Coast. From a projects perspective, we serve the Midwest and Northeast well, but we don’t have a lot of industrial service local offices there. We’re in the process of opening new offices in Chicago near the refineries and southern New Jersey near the Mid-Atlantic plants. We recently opened in New Orleans and Washington. Once those are established, we’ll step out and open a couple more offices.
Q: How do you plan to address upcoming changes in the workforce and economy?
A: We’ve really changed the way we recruit and retain talent. Our effort in automating equipment fits with how people want to work today. They don’t necessarily want to be in a tank with a squeegee anymore; they’d much rather be running a robot that’s in the tank.
We’re changing through technology and creating a safer work environment for our people and our customers. As far as the economy goes, the rapid drop of oil prices has had a pretty big economic impact on our Canadian business that we didn’t expect to be affected. We would have thought low energy costs would have fueled the economy, but in turn we’ve actually seen a lot of customers pulling back on capital spending. With that said, our business is strong and ramping up in other areas. We’re mindful of where we expand, and we put a lot of emphasis on ensuring we have the right balance of resources when and where they’re needed.
Q: What has been the most pivotal moment of your career?
A: Clean Harbors has worked over the years in natural disaster cleanup, large oil spills and responding to terrorist attacks. When I was on our field services side of the business, I was a key part of a team that responded to the World Trade Center and anthrax cleanups. We worked around the clock down there for many months supporting the country and doing cleanup work. That was definitely a pivotal moment in my career: seeing the impact Clean Harbors has as more than just a basic service provider to industry and government. We did all sorts of work that was very difficult but, at the end of it, you felt you helped.
For more information, visit www.cleanharbors.com or call (800) 645-8265.
