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J. ERIK FYRWALD Chairman, President & CEO Nalco Co. |
J. Erik Fyrwald joined Nalco as Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer in February 2008.
From 2003 to 2008 Mr. Fyrwald served as Group Vice President of the Agriculture and Nutrition division at E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. From 2000 until 2003 he was Vice President and General Manager of DuPont’s Nutrition and Health business. In 1999, Mr. Fyrwald was Vice President for Corporate Strategic Planning and Business Development. At DuPont, Mr. Fyrwald held a broad variety of assignments in a number of divisions covering many industries. He has worked in several locations throughout North America and Asia.
Mr. Fyrwald first worked at DuPont in summer jobs while attending the University of Delaware, where he received a B.S. degree in chemical engineering in 1981. He also took part in the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.
In addition to serving as Chairman of Nalco’s Board of Directors, Mr. Fyrwald serves as a Director of Eli Lilly and Company, the Society of Chemical Industry and the American Chemistry Council.
Technology offers the best hope of improving the environment while also contributing to productivity and economic growth, and it is especially critical to do both during this period of global economic decline. There are existing technologies that enable industry to reduce costs and reduce the environmental impact through water conservation, energy efficiency, waste minimization and other efforts that generate a positive Return on Investment. In high-growth environments, these projects often are pushed aside to focus only on increasing production, but they can and should be aggressively implemented now. Not only will companies benefit economically, but also this focus will contribute to environmental improvement in the United States and other countries where it is more widely utilized.
In addition to economic drivers that can improve the environment, the Obama administration has sent clear signs it will tighten environmental regulations. The most effective regulations are results-driven, established over reasonable time periods and technology agnostic. Avoiding the urge to mandate specific technologies is a critical constraint on regulatory success, as mandates dampen the benefit of investing in ongoing R&D to develop next-generation solutions and encourage gaming the system through lobbying efforts that do not necessarily favor the best technologies. Smart technologies that improve business operations can be an important means to reduce water and energy use, providing cleaner air while preserving natural resources and promoting growth. They can be encouraged by both increased regulatory standards and economic incentives that encourage rapid investment in environmentally friendly technologies.
More than one third of all energy consumed in the United States is used by industry. More than half of the water used every day in the U.S. is for industry and the vast majority of that is for the power industry, which has substantial opportunity to continue to improve cooling and boiler water performance. Clearly great opportunities exist to use smart technologies to better balance the economic growth needed to provide jobs and prosperity with improving the quality of our environment at the same time.
Sources: Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Outlook 2009, March 2009, Table 2, Energy Consumption by Sector and Source
USGS, Estimated Use of Water in the United States in 2000, USGS Circular 1268
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