NEW YORK — Dennis Papilion has been hired as president of the Earth & Environment (E&E) business line at WSP USA, a leading environmental, engineering and professional services consultancy. Jan. 10, Papilion took over as the executive position.
“Dennis’ success in leading organizational, operational and strategic growth initiatives for global consulting firms will greatly benefit our rapidly diversifying Earth & Environment business, and the entire organization,” said Lou Cornell, president and CEO of WSP USA. “Dennis has a keen understanding of the evolving needs and unprecedented opportunities of today’s environment market, centering resilience thinking in solving business and environmental challenges. He will provide significant value in helping WSP, and our clients and communities, become Future Ready®.”
J. Steven Paquette will retire at the beginning of January. He has enjoyed a distinguished 35-year career in senior management, operations, and business development roles with major engineering firms. Prior to his current role Paquette was president of WSP USA’s Water & Environment business for six years. He was also the WSP USA Inclusion and Diversity Council’s executive leadership advisor.
“Steve has been a tremendously valued member of our leadership team, and the steady hand in guiding our W&E and E&E businesses through times of change, exponential growth and recent uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Cornell said. “He has served as a mentor to his leadership team and staff, as an ambassador for inclusion and diversity at WSP and in the industry, and as a major force in positioning WSP as a leader in the environment market. We wish Steve all the best.”
WSP welcomes Papilion with more than 35 years industry experience, including 25 in leadership roles with increasing scope and responsibility.
He was president of the Latin America and Western U.S. business unit of an international engineering firm for four years. There he managed over 1,500 people across 40 offices, and achieved the highest annual sales for that region in history. He spent 17 years in various leadership positions for strategy and development across a wide range markets.
Papilion excels when it comes to driving growth in existing, newly developed and underserved market segments; encouraging cross-divisional teams for integrated service delivery; advising client accounts management teams to increase strategic engagement and visibility; reducing operational risk by using best governance practices.
“I am very excited to join WSP as president of the U.S. Earth & Environment team,” Papilion said. “I am impressed with WSP’s vision to be the premier environmental, social and governance-centered environmental consulting company in the world. This is an honor to lead in the U.S., and I look forward to sharing my passion for employee engagement, strategy, and client service to achieve great success. Integrating recent acquisitions will be our focus to reach maximum growth in 2022 and beyond!”
Papilion graduated from Colorado State University with a bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture. He was a member of the University of California Irvine, College of Environmental Science Graduate Program faculty and Advisory Committee as well as the University of Colorado Boulder Leeds School of Business Customer Experiment Program Advisory Committee. Papilion is passionate about inclusion and diversity — having served on the Inclusion & Diversity Committee at his previous firm — and is a champion of safety culture.
WSP’s E&E business in the U.S. comprises approximately 2,300 professionals delivering innovative solutions in all segments of the environment sector and supporting major infrastructure and development projects across the transportation, water and wastewater, power and energy, industrial, mining, oil and gas, and federal markets. Combined, WSP’s global environmental resources of more than 14,000 professionals ideally position the firm to lead the acceleration of the world’s green transition.
About WSP USA
WSP USA is WSP’s U.S. subsidiary. WSP is a world-renowned engineering and professional services firm. We are local engineers, planners and technical experts. We also serve as strategic advisors and construction managers. WSP USA develops lasting solutions in the building, transportation, energy and water markets. We have more than 12,000 employees and 200 offices in the United States. Our goal is to help communities prosper. wsp.com
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