USFilter Reorganizes Water/Wastewater Business Around Equipment, Service

United States Filter Corporation has announced the reorganization of its water and wastewater business into fully integrated service and capital equipment groups. The company has named Frank Firsching and Mike Stark as the group presidents.  Firsching will now serve as president of USFilter’s Water and Wastewater Systems Group.  Stark will serve as president of USFilter’s Services Group. 

"USFilter has driven the evolution of the water industry in the past decade by constantly re-inventing itself.  If we are to remain the market leader, we must stay ahead of the industry’s thinking. It’s in that spirit that these changes were made to refine and improve our operational and sales intensity," said Andy Seidel, president and chief operating officer of Vivendi Water North America.

USFilter’s capital equipment product lines have been consolidated into a single group under Firsching in order to facilitate integrated technology, equipment and controls solutions to municipal and industrial customers.  Firsching has been a member of the USFilter executive team since 1992.  In his latest position, Firsching was executive vice president of the process water group.  As the president of USFilter’s Water and Wastewater Systems Group, Firsching will be responsible for managing the $800 million industrial and municipal capital equipment product lines. 

USFilter’s services businesses have also been merged into a single group.  Led by Stark, USFilter’s Services Group will provide comprehensive water and wastewater services to municipal and industrial customers including engineering, construction, operations and waste recovery services.  As executive vice president and general manager of USFilter Operating Services since 1997, Stark has led the momentum behind the industry’s fastest growing water outsourcing and privatization business.   He will now be responsible for managing the largest and fastest growing team in the water services business with annual revenues totaling over $800 million.

Other appointments within the group include two newly created positions of chief operating officer (COO): Dean Smith, COO of the Water and Wastewater Systems Group and Don Duffy, COO of the Services Group.  Smith and Duffy will be responsible for integrating the groups’ operational aspects including information technology, purchasing, human resources and administration. 

Seidel will continue to manage the various major groups of the $4.6 billion North American business: Distribution, Consumer and Commercial, Services, Water and Wastewater Systems, Surface Preparation, and Filtration and Separation.