Name: Dave Vaughn

New position: CEO of Veransa

Previous position: Executive vice president of the West Region at Denali Water Solutions

Vaughn is taking over leadership of Veransa, a Florida-based company that processes green and wood waste to create compost and related products. According to a release, he will focus on “driving best practices across the company’s operations, managing integrations of acquisitions and greenfield locations, and overseeing the development of compost and other sustainable, beneficial reuse, products.”

Vaughn’s 35-year career in the environmental service sector includes 17 years in leadership roles overseeing organics recycling operations. That includes his stint at Denali, a major operator of assets such as compost sites. Prior to that, Vaughn worked at two large California waste companies with compost operations — serving as executive vice president at Athens Services and vice president and senior director at Recology.

“Dave’s operational expertise and wealth of knowledge in Veransa’s space is a perfect match with who we are and where we are headed,” said Roger Johansson, co-founder and interim CEO of Veransa, in a statement. Johansson served in the interim role for approximately four months after co-founder and former CEO Marc Owensby left the company.

Last year, Veransa also hired another former Denali executive — Kevin Dunlap — as chief operating officer. According to his LinkedIn profile, Dunlap is no longer with the company.

Veransa, backed by private equity firm RFE Investment Partners, is targeting “rapid growth” in the region. It initially launched in 2021 following the acquisition of multiple companies and continued to expand in 2022.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to specify when former CEO Marc Owensby left the company.