Press Release
UGSI Solutions Announces New President & CEO, Retirement of Longtime Leader Seidel
SAN JOSE/PHILADELPHIA (Sept. 13, 2022) – Today, UGSI Solutions, Inc. ("UGSI"), a leading provider of Water Quality Management Solutions and Chemical Feed Systems to the municipal water and wastewater utility markets, announced the pending retirement of Andy Seidel, longtime CEO of UGSI. Seidel will transition to a non executive director and advisory role and remains an investor in the company. In connection with this, UGSI is pleased to announce that longtime water industry leader David Stanton will join UGSI as President and CEO. Stanton assumed both titles effective Sept. 6, 2022, and will also join the Board of Directors of the Company.
Stanton joins UGSI with over 30 years of water and environmental industry experience. For the past two years, he led the integration of Clean Earth, Inc., a +$780M-per-year specialty waste processing and recycling company formed from two significant acquisitions. Before Clean Earth, Stanton served as CEO of Suez (now Veolia) North America Utility Holdings, Inc., one of the largest U.S. water and wastewater infrastructure owners. Through investments in leadership, assets, and digital transformation, Suez achieved industry-leading results during his tenure. In the two decades prior, Stanton held leadership positions in two startups (APTWater and Westates Carbon) and helped grow and improve operations at two industry consolidators (EarthTech and SouthWest Water).
Additionally, Stanton has been a long-term advocate for innovation in water technology and digital transformation, having served as Chairman for the National Association of Water Companies (NAWC). He currently serves on the Advisory Board of Burnt Island Ventures and is mentoring entrepreneurs through the Imagine H2O Water Accelerator Program. He holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from Cornell University and has had relevant continuing education at UVA-Darden, Stanford, and in Lean and Six Sigma process improvement methodologies.
"I am delighted to assume the role as CEO of UGSI," said Stanton, incoming President & CEO. "It's an exciting time to join the company with the recent investment from Baird Capital supporting the strong growth at UGSI. I'm excited to see what we can do together alongside the awesome Board that Baird has assembled and the talented and tenured team that Andy helped cultivate. I wish Andy well and look forward to working with him during this next career stage."
Seidel has served as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of UGSI since 2016. He was the Chief Executive Officer of Underground Solutions from 2006-2016 and CEO at United States Filter Corporation (USFilter) from 2000 to 2004, where he was a founding executive from 1991 until the acquisition by Vivendi S.A. in April 1999. US Filter grew from $22 million in sales to ~$5 billion during that period. Seidel served as a Director of NYSE publicly traded companies United States Filter Corporation, Aqua America (formerly Philadelphia Suburban Water), Frenchbased Veolia Environment (Management Board Director) and Nuverra Environmental Services. Seidel was a Director of National Waterworks Holdings, Inc., a JP Morgan/Thomas Lee portfolio company, until its acquisition by The Home Depot. He was also a Senior Advisor at VantagePoint Venture Partners, a venture capital fund. He was on the Board of O'Brien & Gere, a private engineering services company located in Syracuse, N.Y., until Ramboll acquired it in 2018.
"I couldn't be more pleased with David taking the company's helm – I've known him for almost 30 years, and he's a rockstar in the water industry," said Seidel. "I know UGSI will be in good hands under David's expert leadership."
In June, UGSI announced a partnership with Baird Capital's Private Equity team. The investment aims to enable UGSI to fuel continued growth due to the increasing prevalence of water quality challenges driven by climate change, increasing population density, aging infrastructure and resource scarcity. Baird Capital's Rob Ospalik, Partner, and Becca Schlagenhauf, Vice President, joined UGSI's Board of Directors as part of the investment. Additionally, in connection with the investment, Baird Capital Operating Advisor Dave Schroeder assumed the role of non-executive Chair of the Board of Directors of UGSI, and WEF Fellow and former Water Environment Federation (WEF) President and tenured water & wastewater industry executive Rebecca West joined the Board as well.
About UGSI Solutions, Inc. (now cleanwater1)
Headquartered in Milpitas, Calif., UGSI Solutions, Inc. provides a suite of water quality management technologies and chemical feed solutions to municipal and industrial clients. With a history that reaches back over 100 years, UGSI Solutions combines performance proven brands such as Encore® metering pumps, Varea-Meter® flow meters and Polyblend® polymer activation systems with today’s cutting-edge technologies such as Microclor® on-site hypochlorite generation, Monoclor® RCS disinfectant residual management and PAX tank and reservoir mixing systems. From tank mixing to disinfection byproduct removal, to disinfectant residual management and polymer activation – UGSI Solutions offers a full range of water treatment based and "outside the fence" water quality solutions. Tens of thousands of installations validate our experience and know-how in the areas of enhanced water quality, chemical feed and disinfection. UGSI Solutions makes your water and wastewater chemicals work harder for you.