LEADERSHIP
Dan Ertel, Chief Executive Officer
After graduating from Bucknell University in 1984 with a degree in civil engineering, Mr. Ertel returned to his hometown of Williamsport where he began his career at R&J Ertel, Inc., a mechanical construction business founded in 1971 by his father. He was instrumental in growing R&J Ertel from five employees in 1984 to 120 employees by 2007.
Mr. Ertel cares deeply about the natural environment, and especially about the area surrounding Williamsport. When drilling was approved for the Marcellus Shale, he decided to use his expertise as a civil engineer and entrepreneur to create a solution for the wastewater produced by these operations. In 2007, Mr. Ertel, Timothy Butters and William Ertel founded Eureka Resources. They opened the company’s first treatment plant in November 2008, and added mechanical vapor recompression technology in June of 2010.
Under Mr. Ertel’s leadership, Eureka Resources has grown to three treatment facilities with a workforce of approximately 100 employees. Today, Eureka significantly reduces the local energy industry’s waste stream by recovering clean, reusable water while also producing various co-products for industrial reuse.
Kevin Thimmesch, Chief Operating Officer
Mr. Thimmesch brings more than 25 years of experience in the minerals-extraction industry to his role as Chief Operating Officer. His background includes underground salt mining with the world’s largest rock salt producer, solution mining and solar-energy extraction. He is an expert in environmental, health and safety issues and has held executive leadership roles in operations, supply chain, revenue generation and business management. He has extensive experience in driving growth, both through mergers and acquisitions and through new facility construction and startup, including funding strategies, contract negotiation, commissioning and integration. Mr. Thimmesch leads Eureka Resources’ operations, engineering and supply chain, and he is an integral member of the strategic planning and growth teams.
Chris Frantz, Chief Commercial Officer/Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Frantz is a seasoned energy executive with more than 25 years of experience commercializing projects and businesses. Before joining Eureka, Mr. Frantz was co-founder and Chief Financial Officer of Endicott Biofuels II, LLC and its operating subsidiary Sabine Biofuels II, LLC. He raised more than $45 million of private equity funding for the two entities and led them from inception through financing, construction, commercial operation and their successful sale in December 2018. Mr. Franz also has extensive experience leading commercial negotiations, financial modeling, non-recourse project financing, land acquisition, permitting and construction management. He began his career as an economist with Amoco Corporation and British Petroleum.
Bob Cooney
Vice President of Operations
Mr. Cooney is the operations leader for all plant and transportation assets at Eureka’s facilities. He is a native of rural North Central Pennsylvania with 30 years of experience in process engineering and operations management within the natural gas, refining, chemical, and bio energy industries.
Bob is a Chemical Engineer and certified Lean Six Sigma Blackbelt focused on process, operations, and reliability improvements.
Jerel Bogdan
Vice President of Engineering
Mr. Bogdan focuses on the planning, permitting, design and optimization of Eureka’s treatment technologies and facilities and is responsible for regulatory compliance.
Mr. Bogdan has a Master’s of Science (MS) in Civil/Environmental Engineering from the State University of New York at Buffalo, is a registered Professional Engineer (PE) in New York and Pennsylvania, and holds a Construction Document Technology (CDT) certification and has over 20 years of experience in industry, municipal and industrial wastewater treatment, water supply/wastewater collection systems, residual/hazardous/radiological waste management, process engineering and optimization, capital project planning and management, construction management, upstream oil and gas operations, alternative energy, remediation, and regulatory compliance.
Timothy Butters
Vice President of Sales
Mr. Butters, serves as Vice President of Sales for Eureka’s activities in the Marcellus Shale play, Mr. Butters is focused on helping exploration and production companies sustainably manage their wastewater. His duties also include engaging with co-product partners to create new sources of revenue for Eureka and new sources of valuable co-products for our customers.
Tim, a native of Williamsport, PA and avid outdoorsman, earned his degree from the Pennsylvania College of Technology in 1984. He successfully owned and managed several companies and enterprises in the 20 years prior to the founding of Eureka Resources.
Brian Hinkal
Director of Operations
Brian is responsible for the day-to-day operational management of our facilities and services, operators, technicians and support staff. Brian works closely with our Supply Chain, Sales and Engineering departments to help coordinate throughput and plant improvements. He brings decades of process mechanical and operational experience to the table, and is a key member of the management team.
A native of Williamsport, Brian earned a degree in Biology from The Pennsylvania State University and has worked with Eureka for the past 12 years.
Vince Pulizzi
Director of Supply Chain
Mr. Pulizzi serves as the Director of Supply Chain Management. Using more than 6 years of experience in the oil and gas industry and degrees in Business Management and Business Marketing, he devises, develops and implements strategies for Eureka’s complex supply chain and support operations within the matrix environment.
He works to ensure that sufficient capabilities are in place to deliver Eureka’s business plans profitably and to meet and exceed regulatory, customer and other stakeholder requirements. Mr. Pulizzi is working to create sustainable change, performance improvement and career development of the Internal Sales, Supply Chain and Logistics teams.
William Ertel
Director of Construction
Mr. Ertel manages all phases of Eureka’s multiple and ongoing construction projects focused on expanding and improving all processes for the commercial treatment and management of wastewater from the natural gas industry and production of commercial grade co-products.
He is a Board Member of the Williamsport Municipal Water and Sanitary Authorities, which owns and operates both water and wastewater facilities serving approximately 60,000 residents and businesses in Williamsport and the surrounding communities.
Mr. Ertel earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Bucknell University.