Meet The Team | Keenan Recycling

Our Team

Find out more about the team that makes up Keenan Recycling

Our team has unrivalled experience of organics recycling with broad operational experience across the country to deliver a premium service for our customers. We are also supported by the BGF and its team of investors to help grow our operations throughout the UK.

Investors

BGF was established in 2011 to help Britain’s growing smaller and medium sized businesses. Backed by five of the UK’s main banking groups – Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, RBS and Standard Chartered – BGF is an investment company that provides growth capital for ambitious entrepreneurs running high growth companies.

In August 2015 BGF invested £2.2m in Keenan Recycling to support expansion in the Central Belt and its ambitions for growth throughout the UK.

Directors

Managing Director

Grant Keenan

Grant is the Managing Director of Keenan Recycling. He started a firewood business when he was 19, since then diversified into garden bark and in 2001 began recycling garden waste. Grant is a Chartered Waste Manager, former Scotland EY Entrepreneur of the Year and currently sits on the Board of Elevator and Dial-a-Bus. Previous Board appointments include Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce, Aberdeen Forward, Association For Organic Recycling and he was a Centre Councillor for the Chartered Institute of Waste Management. He was previously Chair of BENE (Business Environment North East) and ORG (Organic Recycling Group).

Operations Director

Gregor Keenan

Gregor is Operations Director and joined the company in 2004. Responsible for site operations, processing and development. He has expertise in composting operations and Biofuel production. Gregor is a member of the UK Compost Certification Scheme’s Technical Advisory Committee, Research Panel and Market Development Working Group.

Collections Director

Claire Keenan

Claire is the company’s Collections Director, shareholder and fully qualified Transport manager, she joined the company when it was a small garden bark business in 2001. In 2003 the company diversified into organic waste recycling and Keenan Recycling was born. In 2014 Claire took over the Transport and Logistics arm of the business, which specializes in food waste collections. After a private equity deal with BGF, Claire headed up the expansion of food waste collections into the central belt and in 2018 took the company into England. Now operating from 9 Depots across the UK, Claire oversees collections nationwide.

Finance Director

Ritchie Clark

Ritchie joined the company in 2016. Having trained as a Chartered Accountant with Deloitte, he gained significant corporate finance and M&A experience through his previous roles as a Director within Investment Bank, Simmons & Company, and the Bank of Scotland’s Acquisition Finance team and its debt and equity investment arm, Integrated Finance.

Director

Mel Keenan

Mel is an Executive Director at Keenan Recycling. As a Chartered Member of the Institute of Personnel and Development, he takes a keen interest in the Company’s main asset, our people. He was formerly Chairman at RGIT Montrose and also Chairman at Montrose Park Hotels Ltd. Mel’s previous posts include membership of the Oil Industry Advisory Committee to The Health and Safety Executive, The Employment Appeal Tribunal, Chairman of the Sea Fisheries Training Council and Chairman of The EU Committee on Safety and Social Aspects in Sea Fisheries.

Chairman

Jim Clark

Jim is the Chairman of Keenan Recycling. He is a serial entrepreneur with over 250 investments since 1982 and c£120m of exits since 2007. He is an experienced Non-Executive Director with a broad range of management skills and five years previous experience as a Main Board Director of a listed PLC. He has a current portfolio of business interests, servicing over 3000 customers and a comprehensive understanding of mechanics relating to business law, accountancy and banking.

Board Member

Richard Pugh

Richard joined BGF in August 2011 and is based in Aberdeen. His role is to identify and successfully execute investments for BGF then work with portfolio companies to support their growth plans. Richard has 10 years’ experience in investments into small and mid-sized companies. This was initially as an adviser at PwC where he was involved in over 30 corporate and private equity transactions in the UK and overseas and since 2011 at BGF, where he has been involved in seven investments so far, with a particular focus on oil service companies.

Collections

Head of Service Delivery

Andrew Gerlach

Andrew has worked with Keenan Recycling since 2015 when the growth in Central Scotland began. He was responsible for driving the commercial growth and customer service in Scotland. Andrew is now responsible for identifying our customer needs and oversees the delivery of our services.

Service Delivery Manager

Sara Borthwick

Sara started working at Keenan Recycling in July 2018 when she was taken on as an Operations Assistant. Two years on and she is now the Service Delivery Manager for the business. Her role involves upholding the smooth-running of the daily collection service. Sara’s previous roles before joining Keenan have been customer service focused.

Transport Supervisor

Liam Buckley

Liam joined Keenan Recycling in December 2019. As Transport Supervisor he is responsible for the smooth running of the Collections Operation, ensuring collections and deliveries are carried out on time, to the highest standard and in the most streamlined manner, whilst working in conjunction with the Transport Managers and Supervisors to ensure the fleet and drivers remain compliant with Company policy and legal obligations. Liam previously worked in the car rental sector for 12 years, gaining a widespread knowledge of the car market.

Transport Operations Manager

Stephen Zok

Stephen was appointed to the role of Regional Supervisor in 2019. He joined Keenan Recycling as an HGV Driver back in 2016 and progressed by taking on extra duties to streamline this role. Stephen is responsible for overseeing all depots throughout Scotland, supporting the Depot Supervisors by assisting them in making their appointed depots safe, compliant and successful. He played a pivotal role in the expansion of Keenan Recycling as they opened depots in Newcastle, Manchester and Leeds.

Senior Client Services Coordinator

Kirsty Shepherd

Logistics Coordinator

Graeme Gordon

Transport Planner

Martin Singer

Collections Administrator

Esme Mackenzie

Transport & Logistics Administrator

Katherine Henderson

Depot Supervisor Aberdeen

Ian Burnet

Depot Supervisor Edinburgh

Krystof Wilamowski

Depot Supervisor Newcastle

Rob Lowery

Recycling

VCU and Biofuel Process Supervisor

Tomas Urbonas

Yard Supervisor

Tony Fraser

Office Administrator

Josie de Vries

Sales

Sales & Marketing Director

Simone Barnett

Simone has 25 years’ experience in commercial, sales and marketing roles, 10 years at Executive Director level and also experienced working with a number of private equity and investor boards. MBA and MSc in Marketing qualified, Simone is experienced in applying strategy and methodologies in a practical way, sensitive to the realities of the market, the business culture and the unique nature of a growing business.

Business Development Manager

Luca Pornaro

Luca is a food recycling expert and in 2015 joined Keenan Recycling in the capacity of UK Business Manager to drive the business forward in the central belt, and expand it further in new areas of the UK. Luca moved to Scotland from Italy in 1998 where he spent almost a decade managing global contact centre operations for blue chip companies. He later started the “food waste revolution” in 2008 when he set up CORE, a social enterprise which was the first service in Scotland to offer food waste collections and recycling before moving on to manage food waste operations for Mitie and Binn Group.

UK Sales Manager

Gary Mills

Gary joined Keenan Recycling in late 2020 as UK Sales Manager. His role is to ensure that Keenan Recycling’s ambitious expansion plans continue throughout the UK. Prior to this, Gary spent ten years working for a manufacturing business supplying recycling and litter bins into the waste management sector. He worked with many blue chip companies along the way helping to develop waste and recycling strategies in a variety of different settings from retail and commercial, to corporate and higher education.

UK Sales Manager

Clare Pittman

Clare started with us in late 2020, to aid in the continuous expansion of the company across the UK. Clare is a highly motivated senior sales professional with an exceptional proven sales record spanning over 16 years. She also has the accolade of winning a Business Manager of the Year award. Clare has experience in all waste streams and is now responsible for focusing on food waste recycling to help grow our business throughout the UK.

Compliance, Finance, IT & HR

Environmental Compliance Manager

Rachael Reid

Rachael joined the company in 2015 and is responsible for maintaining compliance for our site permits and planning conditions to ensure we conform to all relevant regulations. She controls the PAS100 composting certification for the compost products produced at New Deer and also maintains the ISO9001 and ISO14001 accreditations company wide. Rachael acts as an ambassador for Circular North East promoting the circular economy and conducts small training sessions for customers and community groups to demonstrate the benefits of recycling organic waste.

Finance Manager

Jacqui Gibb

Jacqui joined the company in 2020 as Finance Manager. She is responsible for the company’s financial accounting, reporting and control activities including providing organisational and administrative guidance for financial operations. Jacqui previously worked in the oil and gas industry in similar Finance Manager positions for 10 years. Prior to that Jacqui worked in a local chartered accountancy firm in Aberdeen where she qualified as a Chartered Accountant.

IT Manager

Neil Copestake

Neil joined Keenan Recycling in 2015 initially in the role of Financial Controller but as the business has expanded, he has been appointed to the role of IT Manager. Neil is responsible for managing the company’s computer systems and software, whilst overseeing the purchasing and installation of IT and telephone equipment and providing IT support to the Company. Prior to joining Keenan, Neil worked in Finance for the Aberdeenshire Council Planning and Environment Dept as well as Wood Group and KCA Deutag where he was also the SAP contact, helping to improve and develop the systems relating to the Finance department.