WM adds new member to board of directors

Houston-based Waste Management announced its board of directors has elected William Plummer to the board effective Aug. 19.

Plummer will serve on the Audit Committee and the Management Development and Compensation Committee of the board.

Most recently, Plummer served as executive vice president and CFO for Stamford, Connecticut-based United Rentals, where he helped the company execute a strategy focused on improving the profitability of core equipment rental business through revenue growth, margin expansion, operational efficiencies and acquisitions. After a decade in the CFO role at United Rentals, Plummer retired in Jan. 2019. Previously, Plummer served as CFO of New York-based Dow Jones & Company, and prior to that, he spent over six years at Pittsburgh-based Alcoa as vice president and treasurer. Earlier in his career, he worked at Mead Corporation, General Electric and Goldman Sachs, among other companies.

“We’re excited to welcome Bill to the board of directors. He is an impressive executive with a diverse background in finance, logistics, operational efficiencies and service differentiation, all of which are key to our strategy,” Jim Fish, president and CEO of Waste Management, says. “His valuable experience executing a customer-focused strategy, driving organic revenue growth and improving free cash flow will be great assets to our existing board and the company, and we’re looking forward to his contributions.”

Plummer holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in aeronautics and astronautics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a master’s degree in business administration from Stanford University. He also has experience serving on boards of directors of public and private companies, including John Wiley and Sons Inc., Global Payments Inc. and NESCO, where he serves as chairman.

The election of Plummer expands Waste Management’s board of directors to nine, eight of whom are independent directors.