Covanta has tapped IR veteran Alan Katz as vice president of investor relations. He will report to CFO Sanjiv Khattri.
Katz will be responsible for the $2.5 bn market cap waste-to-energy company’s global investor relations program as well as financial media relations.
He replaces Marisa Jacobs, who has decided to leave Covanta to pursue another opportunity, according to a statement from the company.
Katz brings a dozen years of IR experience across multiple industries to his new role, moving most recently from WNS, a $400 mn market cap outsourcing company from Mumbai, India, with US operations headquartered in Jersey City.
‘One amazing thing about IR is you get to learn about both the industry and the operations [of your own company]’, Katz says in an interview.
‘I’m excited about the new role. It’s a fascinating space. You have the blend of the secure waste management business with the potential upside of energy production.’
Katz looks forward to the challenge of reaching a different investor audience in his new company. ‘There is an opportunity to reach out to a wider audience when the company has a dividend,’ he explains.
He will lose those investors ‘focused solely on international or Asia-Pacific companies,’ he acknowledges. ‘It’s really a balancing act, moving to a different industry in a new market and hopefully creating new contacts.’
Katz previously held the IR role at Hertz, and co-founded the investor relations practice at CJP Communications, where he concentrated on energy, oil and gas and transportation industry clients.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of Rochester and an MBA from New York University.
