Industry Leaders

Jeff Faust is Synagro’s environmental compliance director. He has more than 35 years of experience in biosolids and residuals management. During his career, he has permitted land application sites and storage facilities for land application projects, prepared numerous regulatory reports, performed QA/QC reviews on federal, state and local regulatory reports, and commented on federal and state regulations. He has also developed and implemented standard operating procedures and compliance calendars to ensure compliance with federal, state and local regulations. He has conducted numerous environmental compliance audits and developed and implemented biosolids/residuals environmental compliance and monitoring, recordkeeping and reporting programs.

Jeff holds bachelor’s degrees in Soil Science, Watershed Management and Natural Resource Management from the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point.  

Mike Myers is Synagro’s director of Sales and Operation Planning. In this role, Mike has national responsibility for all dredging, digester cleaning and dewatering operations. He evaluates equipment and technology, reviews bids and proposals, trains special project teams, establishes corporate guidelines for special projects, and oversees construction of mobile dewatering units as well as installation of permanent, on-site dewatering facilities. His unique, industry-leading knowledge and presence at all startup operations is key to Synagro’s excellence in consistently delivering great outcomes for our customers. Mike has had this leadership role at Synagro for 20 years. Prior to Synagro, Mike worked at Whiteford Environmental in their water and wastewater group, where he rose to become the manager of the Special Projects Department. In this role, he was responsible for site surveys, project assessments, bidding and fiscal responsibility for all Special Projects contracts.

Mike is a Nutrient Management Consultant, State of Maryland. He has a Confined Space Certification, Instructor Level, and he attended the Carnegie School of Management. He is a member of the Water Environment Federation.

Bob Pepperman is Synagro’s director of product sales and marketing. He leads the team which delivers more than 500,000 tons of AllGro® compost and Granulite® fertilizers to farmers across North America, the most in the biosolids industry. He has more than 35 years of experience helping municipalities develop environmentally responsible solutions to their biosolids management challenges, and helping farmers improve soil health through biosolids land application. Bob began his career as the Director of Professional Services for Enviro-Gro Technologies, where he was part of the team that developed an agricultural land base in Colorado, allowing New York City to cease ocean disposal of their biosolids. He was also part of the team creating the solution for the Boston Harbor cleanup. He later co-founded Environmental Group Services, Inc., a consulting firm focused on assisting engineering companies in evaluating new technologies and creating biosolids master plans. He has also served as United Water / Suez’s primary internal expert for biosolids management. He joined Synagro in 2010, and, in addition to his product group leadership, has been a successful developer, siting multiple biosolids management facilities for our municipal clients.

Bob holds a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Resource Management and a master’s degree in Agronomy from Pennsylvania State University. He has held committee and leadership roles in Water Environment Federation, Chesapeake Water Environment Association, Mid-Atlantic Biosolids Association and Water Environment Research Foundation.

John Uzupis is our technical services director for the Mid-Atlantic region. He has overall responsibility for directing land base management for biosolids, food, water treatment and pulp and paper residuals, and for regulatory compliance for beneficial reuse of residual products with federal, state and local agencies. John has been with the company since 1996. Because of his deep subject matter expertise and recognized industry leadership, he was chosen as a member of the Maryland Department of Agriculture’s Phosphorus Management Tool Transition Advisory Committee. This committee makes recommendations to the Secretary of Agriculture on strategies to more effectively implement the Phosphorus Management Tool, a procedure developed by the University of Maryland that uses characteristics of soils landforms and management practices to identify the potential risk of phosphorus losses from land to water. This is an initiative vital to improving the health of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Prior to joining Synagro, John worked for a decade with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources in permitting and enforcement. During his tenure there, he was noted for streamlining the bond release process and permitting the first biosolids reclamation project in the region.

John holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Resource Management from Pennsylvania State University. He is a Certified Nutrient Management Specialist in the State of Pennsylvania. John is also President of the Mid-Atlantic Biosolids Association (MABA) and a Board member of the Virginia Biosolids Council.

Layne Baroldi is our vice president of Technical Services and Government Affairs. He coordinates with municipal representatives, consultants, lobbyists, and professional trade associations to promote environmentally responsible biosolids legislation and regulation at the local, state, and federal level. He also manages the company’s 40-person Technical Services group, which is responsible for providing efficient and compliant end use options for our clients’ biosolids through land permitting, development of nutrient management plans and obtaining all requisite regulatory approvals for land application operations. Prior to joining Synagro, Layne spent 22 years with the Orange County Sanitation District, where he managed the District’s biosolids management and air quality programs. He previously served as Councilman and Mayor of the City of La Habra Heights, California. 

Layne holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California in Biological Sciences and is a Juris Doctor from the Western State College of Law. He is a member of several national and state clean water organizations He is also an often-published member, and featured speaker on various topics, for the Water Environmental Federation.   

Yolanda Chen is Synagro’s senior vice president of Finance. She is seasoned finance leader with experience in both public and private sectors from risk management, telecommunications, and high-tech manufacturing industries. She has experience in corporate finance, treasury, corporate governance, business intelligence, mergers and acquisition, with strong leadership deep-rooted in trust and integrity. Yolanda is recognized as a dynamic change leader, and a forward-thinking strategic partner.

Prior to joining Synagro, as a vice president of finance for a private equity-owned multinational company, Yolanda restructured and streamlined finance functions across multiple countries, platforms and currencies, deployed A standardized global payroll platform in multiple regions, supported global supply chain and quotation continuous improvement effort, managed greenfield in Asia to navigate supply chain tariff risk, and as a part of the leadership team, propelled the company to double-digit growth four consecutive years.

Yolanda holds a bachelor’s degree in Commerce from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and a master’s degree in Finance from the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University. She was one of the first organizers for Women of MFin, an organization at Queen’s with a nationwide outreach to assist, promote and accelerate women’s careers in the finance industry, facilitate discussions on gender equality corporate culture and policies, and provide resources for women from less-privileged backgrounds to get a fair shot at achieving successful careers.

John “JP” Pugliaresi is Synagro’s West Region sales director. He is responsible for providing strategic guidance to our municipal and industrial customers in Arizona, California, Colorado, Oregon and Washington to develop both facility- and services-based, environmentally sustainable, solutions for their biosolids management needs. He has more than 30 years of experience in this field. His areas of expertise include finance and accounting, operations management, and sales. As part of his duties with Synagro, JP has prepared applications for changes in refuse collection and disposal rates for the City and County of San Francisco and implemented operations performance-monitoring programs. In a previous role with the company, JP was responsible for the development of operations and maintenance for all Synagro projects throughout the West Region. Prior to Synagro, JP served in a series of environmental services roles of increasing responsibility with Norcal Solid Waste Systems, USA Waste Services and Waste Management.

JP has a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from the University of California, Berkeley.