Republic Services Names New COO

Republic Services Inc. has named Jon Vander Ark, 42, as the company's COO, effective Jan. 1, 2018.

As COO, Vander Ark will be responsible for operationalizing the company's strategy and executing its business plan across its field operations.

Additionally, he will have functional responsibility for all operational support departments, including safety, engineering, environmental compliance and fleet management, which includes the seventh largest vocational truck fleet in the country. Vander Ark will continue to report to Don Slager, president and CEO.

"Jon is a trusted leader who consistently delivers results. He brings a rigorous focus to achieving operational excellence through continuous improvement," Slager said in a statement. "I have tremendous confidence in his ability to further embed The Republic Way across the enterprise while optimizing the performance of our field operations through our strong general management team."

Prior to this appointment, Vander Ark was executive vice president, operations, responsible for maximizing Republic's field performance, ensuring service delivery, and achieving financial and operational results across the company's operations in the eastern half of the U.S., which represents approximately $5 billion of Republic's annualized revenues. Previous to this, he oversaw the western half of the company's operations.

Vander Ark joined Republic Services in January 2013 as executive vice president, chief marketing officer, responsible for establishing the Republic Services brand and advancing the company's customer-centric service approach.

In 2014, Vander Ark played a role when Republic made the move to unify its subsidiary brands under the Republic banner.

Previously, Rob Maruster had served as Republic's COO from June 2014 to June 2016.

Prior to Republic, he served as partner at McKinsey & Company's Detroit office, managing clients across a variety of industries, including transportation, logistics, manufacturing and consumer products. He received a B.A. degree from Calvin College and a Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School.