GaiaTech employs more than 60 professionals who are expert in environmental site assessments and regulatory compliance audits (Phase I), and site investigations (Phase II), as well as in geology, hydrogeology, permitting, air quality management, Environmental Management System Planning (EMS/P), treatment system design, remediation project management and the post-closure management of environmental deficiencies according to established schedules. Our Real Estate & Facilities group has expertise in performing property condition assessments (PCAs), consulting on ADA compliance, asbestos, and indoor air quality and mold, and monitoring construction loans.
Our management team comprises senior executives in locations across the U.S. and in the U.K.:
Philip G. Newton, President & CEO
Christer L. Setterdahl, Senior Vice President
Steve Courcier, Senior Vice President
David M. Pasquinelli, Senior Vice President
Brian M. Devine, Senior Vice President
Steve D. Kline, Vice President, Engineering Services
John H. Yang, Vice President, Geoscience Services
Leslie Nicholas, Vice President, Due Diligence
Jacqueline Y. Setterdahl, Vice President
Allen D. Drafke, Chief Financial Officer
Paul A. Newton, Managing Director, U.K.
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Philip G. Newton
President & CEO
Philip Newton specializes in representing private equity clients. Since he founded GaiaTech in 1993, Philip and the company have completed environmental consulting assignments on merger and acquisition deals with transaction values in excess of $100 billion. He has worked on deals throughout the U.S. and Canada, Europe, South America and Asia. Moreover, Philip has worked on many other specialized environmental consulting assignments involving site remediation and regulatory negotiation. He holds a First Class Honors degree in Chemistry from the University of Manchester (UK), completed post-baccalaureate research in organic chemistry synthesis at Cambridge University, and earned an MBA at Michigan State University after moving to the U.S. in 1980.
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Christer L. Setterdahl
Senior Vice President
Christer Setterdahl was a Founding Principal of GaiaTech in 1993; he launched and operated the Atlanta office from 1995 through 2000. He has more than 13 years of environmental consulting experience, and prior to helping create GaiaTech, he worked in the Region V Division of the Water-Enforcement Group for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and subsequently worked as a lead Senior Hydrogeologist for a private consulting firm specializing in groundwater contaminant investigation and cleanup related to merger and acquisition activity. Christer combines a strong hydrogeological background and years of consulting experience to provide practical and technically sound solutions for the funding, acquisition, development, and divestment of properties and businesses. He currently directs GaiaTech's environmental assessment and consulting operations in North America.
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Steve Courcier
Senior Vice President
A Founding Principal of GaiaTech, Steve Courcier has more than eighteen years in the environmental engineering and consulting fields. Courcier is deeply experienced in gauging the financial implications of environmental liabilities and has developed extensive knowledge of the regulations and trends governing transparency in representing such matters. Since passage of Sarbanes-Oxley, the establishment of FAS 143, and the other trends increasingly necessitating transparency in environmental reporting, Courcier has presented on financial reporting requirements at events across the country. Formerly GaiaTech's CFO, Courcier now lives and works in Dallas, where he supervises GaiaTech's operations in the southwest US. He earned his B.S. in Business Administration from the Union Institute in Cincinnati, Ohio.
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David M. Pasquinelli P.E.
Senior Vice President
David Pasquinelli has over 25 years of experience in engineering, consulting, client development, and management. His experience includes energy, combustion, and environmental system design and application; energy-related research and development; solid, hazardous, and medical waste system and facility design, permitting, and operation; environmental and engineering consulting; national account and major project coordination; and business unit management. As a GaiaTech consultant, David assists clients with environmental site assessment and compliance, air quality permitting, air pollution control system application, remediation system design, and environmental site investigation and closure. He is a registered professional engineer in several states and holds a MS in engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.
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Brian M. Devine, P.E.
Senior Vice President
Brian Devine joined GaiaTech as a Senior Vice President in 2003, with 24 years of geo-environmental and engineering consulting experience in Europe, the Middle East and the United States. Based in Atlanta, he leads our Real Estate & Facilities practice; his role is to help clients identify, quantify, and manage the environmental and facilities engineering risks associated with their transactions—whether acquisitions, divestitures, or recapitalizations. Brian's business experience includes operational, financial, and client management; he is a Chartered Engineer in the UK and a Professional Engineer in several states in the US. He holds an Honors degree in Civil Engineering from Heriot Watt University, in Edinburgh.
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Steven D. Kline P.E.
Vice President, Engineering Services
Steven Kline is a Founding Principal of GaiaTech, and is responsible for GaiaTech's engineering, permitting, abatement, remediation and environmental management system (EMS) services both in the U.S. and the U.K. Other responsibilities include providing transaction consulting and technical support to legal, financial, and corporate clients. Steven has 14 years of experience as an environmental engineer and geologist, and is a licensed professional engineer in several states. Prior to his work as an environmental consultant, he spent six years in construction engineering and alternative energy research. Steven holds a Masters Degree in Environmental Engineering from IIT.
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John H. Yang, P.G., CPG
Vice President, Geoscience Services
John Yang is a Founding Principal of GaiaTech and has over 15 years' professional experience in environmental and geological sciences. He is presently responsible for managing GaiaTech's practice in geoscience. Moreover, John is responsible for overall Phase II environmental site investigation operations, including the design, management, evaluation, and quality assurance of Phase II environmental site geology, soil/groundwater contamination investigations, and remediation systems. In this role, John supervises and coordinates project management oversight, hiring, mentoring, and the development of staff in the practice. John holds a Masters in hydrogeology and fluvial hydrology from the University of Illinois.
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Leslie Nicholas
Vice President, Due Diligence
Leslie Nicholas leads GaiaTech’s environmental due diligence practice, which comprises our commercial real estate, assessment, and M&A advisory services teams. She manages all due diligence projects for the company, advising financial and strategic buyers, lenders, and attorneys, industrial clients and commercial real estate owners and portfolio managers to identify, evaluate, and manage environmental liabilities. Leslie joined GaiaTech as a senior environmental consultant in our Atlanta office in March of 1998, became a manager of our environmental assessments team in 2000, moved to Chicago to become a senior project specialist for M&A advisory in 2001, and was promoted to Manager - M&A Services in 2003. Prior to joining GaiaTech, Leslie held positions of increasingly responsibility at three environmental consulting firms. She received her B.S. in Biology from Cornell University, in Ithaca, NY. |
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Jacqueline Y. Setterdahl
Vice President
Jackie Setterdahl is a senior account manager and corporate client contact for numerous national clients for GaiaTech, after having for several years served as the quality control manager. Prior to that role, she was responsible for GaiaTech's company-wide environmental assessment group. An environmental consultant since 1989, Jackie before that worked for three years for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as an On-Scene Coordinator in Region V. In that capacity she handled contracting and management aspects of addressing abandoned plating facilities, oil recycling ponds, and other facilities which posed an imminent threat to the community. Jackie holds an MS in geology from the McGill University in Montreal. |
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Allen D. Drafke, CPA, CMA
Chief Financial Officer
Allen Drafke joined GaiaTech in 2007 with over twenty-five years of experience as a financial executive, having previous experience in the distribution, logistics, and financial consulting industries. His responsibilities include managing the accounting, finance, budgeting, human resources, and IT teams. A Certified Public Accountant, Certified Management Accountant, and Licensed Public Accountant in the state of Illinois, Allen is an active member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Illinois CPA Society, and the Institute of Management Accountants. He holds a BA in Accounting and Business Administration from Lewis University and an MS in Finance from Northern Illinois University. |
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Paul A. Newton
Managing Director, European Operations
Paul Newton is a Founding Principal of GaiaTech and spent eight years performing due diligence assignments throughout the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. Paul currently manages the firm's U.K. operations and in 2002 became Managing Director for GaiaTech's operations throughout Europe. With over fifteen years of experience in the environmental industry, Paul has performed a full range of Phase I environmental assessments for transactions including stock and/or asset purchase, refinancings and foreclosures, and for remediation projects. His responsibilities include quantifying liabilities and developing operating budgets; he also designs and implements Phase II investigations and assists in ensuring ongoing compliance within portfolio companies for financial or strategic buyers. Paul is also a Registered Environmental Property Assessor.
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