About us

Mauricio “Mo” Vargas is a transformational CEO and board member with more than 30 years of experience leading water technology, clean technology, energy, and hydrogen companies through rapid growth, market disruption, and capital-intensive infrastructure deployment.

Throughout his career, Mo has raised more than $500 million in equity and project financing from leading institutional investors, including Soros, Caterpillar, Baupost, Fortistar, and MERS Pension Fund. He has scaled multiple businesses from pre-revenue to more than $400 million in projected revenue, building multi-billion-dollar project pipelines across North America, Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean.

Mo has led complex infrastructure transactions, including a $200 million acquisition that he successfully integrated and tripled in under two years. He has built long-term strategic partnerships with Fortune 500 companies such as Shell, Chevron, PG&E, Lockheed Martin, and Cargill, delivering projects in hydrogen production, PFAS destruction, waste-to-energy, and advanced water remediation.

Known for assembling high-performance leadership teams and accelerating commercialization of breakthrough technologies, Mo is focused on scaling infrastructure solutions that strengthen environmental resilience while delivering durable value for customers, partners, and investors.

Mo enjoys traveling with his wife and has visited over 42 countries. They have 3 adult children spread across the country who they enjoy spending time with cooking, listening to music and attending college and pro sporting events.

Stacie Dennis serves as Chief Financial Officer of Heartland, where she leads corporate finance, capital strategy, project finance structuring, and financial operations to support the company’s continued growth across equipment sales and infrastructure platforms.

Stacie brings more than 25 years of experience scaling capital-intensive businesses across the energy, industrial, and infrastructure sectors. She was Co-Founder and CFO of Flow6 Energy, where she built the financial foundation to support commercialization. As the first CFO of LanzaJet, she helped raise more than $300 million in debt, equity, and grant funding to finance construction of a first-of-a-kind renewable fuels refinery in partnership with global strategic investors. She also served as CFO of Bulkmatic Transport, overseeing financial operations for a multinational logistics platform.

Stacie holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Communications from Northwestern University and a Master’s in Accounting from DePaul University’s Driehaus College of Business.

David Howard Jr. serves as the EVP of Customer Operations. With over 25 years of solid waste industry experience, David brings deep financial and operational expertise to the team and our customers.

Prior to joining Heartland, David held lead operational roles for Hanover County, VA and WM. As a Senior District Manager with WM, David managed all aspects of safe daily landfill site operations, leading a team which processed over 1.8M tons of waste annually.

In his role leading Heartland’s customer operations, David focuses on supporting Heartland’s customers and helping to solve operational challenges. His broad landfill management experience including permitting, landfill gas capture, and public relations makes him suitable to lead Heartland’s delivery and operation of complete turnkey solutions.

David earned a Master of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Science Business Administration from Strayer University where he graduated Summa Cum Laude.

Sherynn Madich is a seasoned legal executive with more than 20 years of experience guiding companies through complex legal landscapes. Since joining Heartland in 2024, Sherynn has quickly established herself as a trusted, strategic advisor—bringing sharp legal acumen, sound judgment, and a deep understanding of the waste and environmental services industry.

Sherynn has a long track record as a decisive, business-focused legal leader who partners closely with executive teams, senior management, and business personnel to align legal strategy with organizational goals. Her in-house counsel experience includes extensive work in regulatory compliance, entity maintenance, employment law, intellectual property, and mergers and acquisitions. She is also highly skilled in managing complex civil litigation and overseeing government and regulatory investigations and proceedings.

Throughout her career—including legal leadership roles at Republic Services—Sherynn has been instrumental in establishing and enforcing corporate policies and compliance programs designed to protect organizational interests. She is known for her practical, commercially minded approach to legal counsel and for driving cost-effective engagement with outside legal resources.

Areas of Focus:
Litigation, Entity Maintenance, Mergers and Acquisitions, Contract Negotiating and Drafting, General Corporate

Bar Admissions:
Arizona, Idaho, and South Carolina

Jeff Snyder serves as Chief Commercial Officer with over 25 years of experience in Water and Wastewater Management to include conversion of biosolids and biomass.

Jeff has held the roles of Chief Marketing Officer for MaxWest Environmental Systems and Senior Vice President of Business Development for Aries Clean Energy. Jeff has participated in raising Corporate and Project equity for gasification projects and is commissioned to deliver lectures internationally on thermal conversion technologies.

In 2011, Jeff was instrumental in the design, development and installation of a Fluidized Bed Gasification System that processed Biosolids from Wastewater Treatment Plants as the sole feedstock in Sanford, FL. In addition, Jeff led the commissioning and operation of the gasifier which included sludge dewatering and drying as components of the gasification operations. As a result of Jeff’s vast knowledge in gasification, in December 2013, Jeff was directly responsible for securing a Determination for USEPA that a Gasifier Operating on sewage sludge was not an incinerator.

Jeff is also a veteran of the United States Air Force where he was hand-picked to participate in the operational development of the F-117A Stealth Fighter.

With over 17 years of progressive experience in human resources, Holly Konieczny serves as the Vice President of Human Resources at Heartland. In this role, she leads the development and execution of strategies that attract, develop, and retain top talent to support Heartland’s growth. Holly partners with executives and managers to implement HR policies and best practices across the organization, ensuring alignment with Heartland’s business goals.

Prior to joining Heartland, Holly held senior leadership roles at Ferrotec and Endeavor Robotics, where she built and led HR functions to drive high performance, employee engagement, and organizational development. She has a proven track record of partnering with leadership teams to foster a culture of innovation and accountability while implementing HR strategies that enhance employee satisfaction and retention.

Holly holds a Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in HR Management from Southern New Hampshire University, and she is certified as a Professional in Human Resources (PHR) and SHRM-Certified Professional (SHRM-CP).

Catharine Reid is Chief Marketing Officer at Heartland, where she leads the company’s brand, marketing, and strategic communications efforts to support growth across wastewater treatment solutions. With more than 25 years of experience in B2B marketing, Catharine specializes in translating complex clean-technology innovations into clear, compelling narratives that build trust with customers, regulators, and investors and accelerate commercial adoption.

Prior to joining Heartland, Catharine served as Chief Marketing Officer at BayoTech, where she built a modern, data-driven marketing organization that increased qualified leads, expanded the company’s digital presence and supported permitting and stakeholder engagement for large-scale hydrogen infrastructure projects across the U.S. Earlier in her career, she spent nearly two decades at Ballard Power Systems, holding senior marketing and communications roles and helping position the company as a global leader in hydrogen fuel cell technology through product marketing, corporate communications, and thought leadership initiatives.