Senior Vice President of Business Development Barry Legg has been with Heritage Environmental Services for close to 25 years, having worked his way up from technician services manager, sales roles and now to leading business development. Legg helps grow Heritage's team and the company, taking a "support from behind" approach with team members. BIC Magazine recently sat down with Legg to learn more about Heritage's growth since he joined and how the company has handled COVID-19 as a leading environmental services provider.
BIC: Tell us about yourself and your role.
LEGG: I've spent almost 25 years at Heritage, but I stepped into the role of senior vice president of business development in December 2019 as we looked to grow our sales team. In my new role, I'm focused on delivering big solutions for our customers. With my decades of experience interfacing with both upstream and downstream entities in the oil and gas industry, it helps position the company to bring more strategic opportunities to our customer base.
I continue to work closely with our key accounts and support my corporate accounts team. Also in my role, I actively participate in the front end of many of Heritage's mergers and acquisitions as we continue to expand our footprint across North America. I originally started at Heritage as a technician services manager and worked my way up from there.
Before my career got started, I attended Hobart and William Smith Colleges where I played football and tennis. I also love to sail. I've sailed around the Great Lakes and all over the Northeast.
BIC: What plans does Heritage have for the future?
LEGG: We are always looking at the market. Heritage is a strategic company in what we do and how we acquire businesses. In May, we acquired our second incinerator in Orange, Texas.
BIC: What has been Heritage's response to the COVID-19 pandemic?
LEGG: We've been deeply involved with doing all that we can do in the ongoing COVID-19 situation. In addition to our nationwide disinfection efforts for hundreds of customers, we have a new program to collect used, everyday PPE in containers, where we safely and securely send it to a facility to thermally transform it from waste to energy. This means nobody gets hurt, and it's classified as beneficial reuse, which means it won't end up in landfills.
BIC: What kind of management approach do you take with your team?
LEGG: As one of our commercial team leaders, I let people manage themselves and their customers. I like to let our people work autonomously and handle their own accounts unless an issue arises. I wouldn't call it "hands off," but letting our salespeople work this way is how we've grown as a company. We provide structured guidance and support from behind.
BIC: What event was life-changing for you and Heritage?
LEGG: That's an easy one. In 2010, when the BP oil spill happened out in the Gulf of Mexico, Heritage had no equipment in the state of Louisiana. We received a call to assist. From that call forward, Heritage basically became the environmental services company on the job.
At the height of our work on the spill and recovery, we had 600 people in Louisiana. Heritage basically had to build resources as we went along. We made many new friends and formed new relationships as we hired people from other businesses and rented equipment and facilities. This work alone boosted Heritage for 14 months.
For more information, visit www.heritage-enviro.com or call (877) 436-8778.
