Brian King - Executive Vice President, Product Management and Marketing at Advanced Drainage Systems
Brian W. King joined ADS in September 2020 and serves as Executive Vice President, Product Management and Marketing. Mr. King came to the Company with over 25 years of product management and marketing experience in both consumer and commercial businesses. From 2013 to September 2020, Mr. King worked at Owens Corning, a Toledo, Ohio-based company that develops and produces insulation, roofing and fiberglass composites and related materials, serving as Vice President, Strategic Marketing from 2016 to 2020 and Director of Strategic Marketing from 2015 to 2016. Prior to Mr. King’s role at Owens Corning, he held leadership positions at The Stanley Works, Elmer’s Products Inc., and Avery Dennison Corporation. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from McMaster University. He has received certifications in Marketing Management and Executive Education from York University and the University of North Carolina respectively.
Brian Joins Sustainable Nation to Discuss:
ADS’ recycling operations and achievements
Strategic efforts at ADS to reduce GHG emissions and their recognition as one of America's climate leaders by USA Today
Partnerships that advance recycling and sustainability initiatives
Advice and recommendations for sustainability professionals
Brian’s Final Five Questions Responses:
What is one piece of advice you would give other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers?
I think we tend to underestimate what change we can make over a decade, and so I think we need to look at change over a longer period. We overestimate what you can do in a year. We're always very aggressive about what you can do in a year, and then we underestimate what you can do over a decade. But if you look back, you find that we've made great change over decades. So I think we need to adjust how we look at how change. The change we make and the impact that we have needs to be longer term.
What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability?
I get really excited when people say plastics recycling doesn't work, because it does. Even though there's no silver bullet in solving the plastics problem. Because plastics in the environment is a problem, and we need to work together to solve that. I get pretty excited because a lot of people tell us that plastics recycling doesn't work, and ADS is an example that, yes, it does. We can actually effectively create circular economies for plastics and we can help to solve the plastic problem. That excites me because that is a big deal.
What is one book you'd recommend sustainability leaders read?
My favorite is Cradle to Cradle. It's remaking the way that we make things. As someone who's done product management for a lot of their career, sustainability is key to product management. We need to think about end of life. When you design a product, it shouldn't just be around the economic value or the features and benefits or the value proposition that the product's delivering. You need to think about what happens at the end of life. Cradle to Cradle is a great way to open your eyes to that.
What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in your work?
We talked about one of them, being partners with groups like The Recycling Partnership. There's passionate individuals, people who are doing things across the country that you can hear from. The Ohio State Sustainability Institute being another one I talked about. Talking to those like minded companies, talking to those like minded people, people finding those like minded organizations out there that are aligned with what it is that you want to do from a sustainability perspective. Sustainability professionals listen to this. We have to make sure we make those connections because some of the best resources are talking to people about what they've learned, what failed, what worked. That gets me really excited.
Where can our listeners go to learn more about you and the work being done at ADS?
If anyone wants to email me here at ADS, it's brian.king@adspipe.com. I'm on LinkedIn, Brian W. King. LinkedIn is the way to find me. If you want to go to our website, adspipe.com/sustainability we have an interactive version of our 2024 sustainability report that allows you to dig into some of the good work that we're doing.