Board of Directors

Board of Directors

Director Biographies

Board of Directors Competency Matrix and Diversity Statistics

  • Andrea E. Bertone

    Andrea E. Bertone served as President of Duke Energy International, LLC ("Duke Energy"), then wholly owned by Duke Energy Corporation, a utility company, from 2009 until her retirement in 2016. Prior to serving as President, Ms. Bertone served as Associate General Counsel of Duke Energy from 2003-2009 and Assistant General Counsel, Duke Energy Trading & Marketing and Duke Energy Merchants from 2001 to 2002. Ms. Bertone also served as a director of Duke Energy International Geração Paranapanema S.A. from 2008 until 2016.  From 1983 to 2000, Ms. Bertone served in various legal roles in both South America and the United States. Ms. Bertone also currently serves on the boards of directors of Amcor plc, Drax Group plc and Peabody Energy Corporation. Ms. Bertone earned a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Sao Paulo Law School in Brazil and an LL.M. degree in International and Comparative Law from Chicago-Kent College of Law at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

  • Edward E. "Ned" Guillet

    Edward E. “Ned” Guillet has been an independent freelance human resources consultant since January 2007. From October 2005 until December 2006, he was Senior Vice President, Human Resources for the Gillette Global Business Unit of The Procter & Gamble Company, a position he held subsequent to the merger of Gillette with Procter & Gamble. From July 2001 until September 2005, Mr. Guillet was Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer and an executive officer of The Gillette Company, a global consumer products company. He joined Gillette in 1974 and held a broad range of leadership positions in its human resources department. From 2008 to 2019, Mr. Guillet served as a Director of CCL Industries Inc., the largest label company in the world providing innovative solutions to the Home & Personal Care, Food & Beverage, Healthcare & Specialty, Automotive, Electronic & Consumer Durables and Retail & Apparel markets worldwide, where he also served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors’ Human Resources Committee and as a member of its Nominating & Governance Committee. Mr. Guillet is a former member of Boston University’s Human Resources Policy Institute. He holds a B.A. degree in English Literature and Secondary Education from Boston College.

  • Michael W. Harlan

    Michael W. Harlan is the Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of Principal Environmental, L.L.C., doing business as TruHorizon Environmental Solutions, a company that provides environmental regulatory compliance services, and a position he has held since September 2013. Mr. Harlan joined the Board of Directors of Brewer Crane Holdings, LLC, in July 2018. Brewer Crane is a privately-held company that provides customers in Southern California with a wide range of crane, rigging, trucking, and construction services. Since September 2011, he has also served as President of Harlan Capital Advisors, LLC, a private consulting firm focused on advising companies on operational matters, strategic planning, mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity investments, and capital raising initiatives. Prior to forming Harlan Capital Advisors, Mr. Harlan held numerous positions at U.S. Concrete, Inc. (NASDAQ: USCR), a publicly traded producer of concrete, aggregates, and related concrete products, including most recently as its President and Chief Executive Officer from May 2007 until August 2011, and as a Director from June 2006 until August 2011. He has previously served on the Board of Directors for several public and private companies and currently serves on the University of Houston Honors College Advisory Board. Prior to founding U.S. Concrete in August 1998, Mr. Harlan held several senior financial positions with publicly-traded companies, including chief financial officer, treasurer and controller. Mr. Harlan began his career with an international public accounting firm. Mr. Harlan is a Certified Public Accountant and graduated magna cum laude from the University of Mississippi with a Bachelor of Accounting degree.

  • Elise L. Jordan

    Elise L. Jordan has been a corporate director since August 2019. In June 2024, she retired from FedEx Express, the largest transportation company in the FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) enterprise, where she last served as the Executive Vice President and CFO from June 2016. In that capacity, she was responsible for worldwide financial affairs, including financial planning, reporting and analysis, long-range strategic planning, and regional accounting and controls. Prior to June 2016, Ms. Jordan served in the following roles for FedEx Express: Senior Vice President and CFO; Senior Vice President, Strategic and Financial Planning and Analysis and Business Systems; Vice President, FedEx Express Financial Planning; Managing Director, Global Financial Planning; and Manager, Corporate/Domestic Business Planning. She joined FedEx in 1983 as an Operations Analyst. Before joining FedEx, Ms. Jordan served as a Staff Auditor for Arthur Andersen LLC. Ms. Jordan earned her MBA from the University of Memphis and her BBA in Accounting from the University of Texas at Austin.

  • Cherylyn Harley LeBon

    Cherylyn Harley LeBon has served since 2023 as a partner with Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP, a law firm based in Washington, D.C, in the corporate and government contracts practice. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. LeBon served for three years as a partner with Dunlap, Bennett, and Ludwig, PLLC, a law firm based in Washington, D.C., and for ten years prior to that as president and CEO of KLAR Strategies, a business strategy firm that she founded. Ms. LeBon has extensive experience in senior executive roles with the U.S. Small Business Administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and as counsel with the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and the U.S. House of Representatives. Ms. LeBon spent several years working in the U.K. and Germany, including serving as an international transaction specialist for Mannesmann Corporation. Ms. LeBon serves on the Boards of Directors of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ: CPRT), Visit Fairfax, and the Capital Business Development Association. Ms. LeBon holds a B.A. degree in History from Canisius College and a J.D. degree from University of Wisconsin-Madison.

  • Susan "Sue" Lee

    Susan "Sue" Lee has been a corporate director since November 2011. She retired from Suncor Energy Inc. in April 2012, where she last served as Senior Vice-President, Human Resources and Communications. During her 16 years with Suncor, her responsibilities included executive compensation and succession planning, governance, merger strategy and integration, and stakeholder and government relations. Prior to joining Suncor, Ms. Lee had a 14-year career in human resources at TransAlta Corp. Ms. Lee has been a Director of Empire Company Limited, a food retailing business, since 2014, where she also serves as a member of the Board of Directors’ Human Resources Committee. Ms. Lee served as a Director of Bonavista Energy Corporation from November 2013 to December 2017 and as a Director of Progressive Waste Solutions Ltd. from May 2014 until May 2016. She has also served on a number of prominent boards in Canada, such as the Suncor Energy Foundation, Holcim Canada, Altalink, the University of Calgary Board of Governors and the Women’s Executive Network Top 100 Women Advisory Board. In 2007, Ms. Lee was an inaugural inductee into the Hall of Fame for Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women.

  • Ronald J. Mittelstaedt

    Ronald J. Mittelstaedt has been President and Chief Executive Officer of Waste Connections since April 2023. ​ From July 2019 to that date, Mr. Mittelstaedt served as Executive Chairman of Waste Connections. ​ From its formation in 1997 to July 2019, Mr. Mittelstaedt served as Chief Executive Officer of Waste Connections. ​ Mr. Mittelstaedt has served as a director of Waste Connections since its formation and serves on the Executive Committee. Mr. Mittelstaedt was elected Chairman in January 1998 and served in that capacity until stepping down to serve as President and Chief Executive Officer in April 2023.  He also served as President of Waste Connections from its formation through August 2004. Mr. Mittelstaedt has more than 30 years of experience in the solid waste industry. He serves as a director of SkyWest, Inc. Mr. Mittelstaedt holds a B.A. degree in Business Economics with a finance emphasis from the University of California at Santa Barbara.

  • Carl D. Sparks

    Carl D. Sparks has been managing partner of Interlock Partners, a venture capital firm focused on early-stage transformative investments, since 2020. Mr. Sparks has also served on the board of directors of Copart Inc. (NASDAQ: CPRT) since 2021, and the board of directors of Cint Group AB (OMX: CINT) since 2022. From 2016 to 2017, Mr. Sparks was the chief executive officer of Academic Partnerships, a firm that helped public universities offer their programs online. From 2011 to 2014, Mr. Sparks served as the chief executive officer of Travelocity Global. Earlier in his career, Mr. Sparks served in senior executive roles at the Gilt Groupe, including President, and before that he was the chief marketing officer of Expedia.com, a division of Expedia, Inc., among other senior executive roles he held there between 2004 and 2009. Mr. Sparks started his career in strategy consulting with Boston Consulting Group. Mr. Sparks previously served on the boards of directors of Dunkin’ Brands Group, Inc., Avis Budget Group (NASDAQ: CAR), where he also served as chairman of the audit committee, and Vonage (NASDAQ: VG). Mr. Sparks holds a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

  • Board of Directors Competency Matrix and Diversity Statistics

    Our Board of Directors maintains a competency matrix to assess its composition. In addition to diverse policy-making experiences in business and other personal and professional characteristics, we strive to maintain a Board of Directors with a diversity of backgrounds, including gender. The following charts and tables summarize the key experiences and skills and the independence and diversity metrics represented by our Board of Directors as of August 2024: