Long-serving Viridor MD Mike Hellings to step down

After making an outstanding contribution to the success of the firm, Mr Hellings will step down from full time commitment at the end of September 2012, the company announced today (May 28). He will then retire from Viridor and its subsidiary boards.

Under Mr Hellings leadership, Viridor has grown its turnover from 30 million in 1994 to well over 700 million today, with profits growing at a compound rate of 20% per annum between 2001 and 2011.

His departure coincides with Viridors relocation to its new head office development in Taunton. Mr Hellings will continue thereafter to serve on Viridors joint venture boards, including Viridor Laing (Greater Manchester) Limited, INEOS Runcorn (TPS) Limited and Lakeside Energy from Waste Limited.

Commenting on the announcement, Colin Drummond, Viridors chief executive and Pennon Board director, said: I would like to thank Mike for his outstanding contribution to the success of our company. He has led Viridor through many years of strong growth and his role and influence in building such a successful business cannot be understated. My fellow directors and I, and I am sure the whole of Viridor, wish Mike every success for the future.

Industry

A qualified engineer, Mr Hellings became involved in the waste industry in the early eighties. He started full time at Viridor (then Haul Waste Ltd) in 1985 where he was area manager and tasked to turn around the fortunes of the company’s transport fleet and landfill assets in Dorset.The challenge was managed with success and this helped secured him the position of operations manager for the company in 1990.

In 1994, he was appointed as managing director of the company a year after it had been acquired by the Pennon Group (then South West Water Ltd), now a FTSE 250 company.

The business expanded rapidly through the nineties and changed its name to Viridor in 1999.Today, Viridor is one of the UKs leading waste management and recycling companies, employing over 3,000 people.

Mr Hellings is a past chairman of the Environmental Services Association, the trade body for the UK waste sector, and is currently vice president of FEAD, the European federation representing the waste management industry.

Board

Speaking to letsrecycle.com, Mr Hellings, said that Viridor had been strengthening its board over the last few months (see letsrecycle.com story)in preparation for his retirement and he will consequently not be replaced.

Reflecting on his time at Viridor, he said the company had grown from a small South West collection and landfill business into one of the UK’s leading waste management companies.

He said: “The only constant in this business is change. It is still an exciting business to be in and it needs fresh impetus from a generation below. We have now got new generation energy-from-waste faciliites and AD plants coming through. From my perspective it is a good point at which to move over.”

Commenting on his future plans, he said: “I am going to play a lot more golf and doa lot of the things I have not had the time to do. I’m a member of a Rotary Club and we do a lot of charity work. I also hope to see more of my two grandchildren.”