Contributor: Mark J. Knight, CHMM

Business Title: Senior Project Manager

Contact Information:
Baker Environmental, Inc.
701 East 83rd Avenue
Merrillville, Indiana 46410
Phone: 219 736 0263
Fax: 219 755 0233
E-mail: mknight@mbakercorp.com

Biography: Mr. Knight is an experienced operations and project manager with over 23 years of experience. His work experience covers a wide variety of site assessment, waste management, and environmental compliance issues. Over his career, Mr. Knight has managed projects with a total value in excess of $50 million for national and international clients.

More specifically, Mr. Knight has managed major RCRA RFI/CA and CERCLA RD/RA projects, risk-based corrective action and voluntary cleanup program projects, and engineering and design projects. He has participated in agency negotiations as well as PCB spill cleanup and emergency response; he has also served as an expert witness. Highlights of Mr. Knight's career include:

  • Directing the construction and operation of an $11 million waste treatment facility as part of a $26 million CERCLA cleanup in Gary, Indiana.
  • Managing the commissioning, startup and initial operation of a 4,400 lb/hr, two-stage thermal desorption unit used to recover oil from RCRA-regulated sludges.
  • Managing a five-year, $11.3 million program to remediate PCBs at 325 locations for a Midwest utility company.

Currently, Mr. Knight serves as Manager of the Baker Environmental, Inc. Merrillville, Indiana office and is also responsible for the environmental services practice in Baker's Chicago, Illinois office.

He has also served as area manager for two offices of a nationally known consulting and engineering firm and was responsible for over 70 engineering, scientific and technical staff; the combined gross revenue of these offices was $12.8 million. Mr. Knight has also directed site assessment and remediation groups with between 12 to 35 professional staff.

Mr. Knight holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Environmental Science from Aurora University, a Master of Science degree in Applied Ecology from Miami University, and is a Certified Hazardous Materials Manager. Mr. Knight has been active in the Chicago Chapter of the Academy of Certified Hazardous Material Managers (ACHMM) for many years and served as Chapter President in 1999 and 2001. Mr. Knight has authored more than 50 publications and has made numerous technical presentations on a variety of topics.
Title of Presentation: The Changing Business of the Environment

Author: Mark J. Knight

Key Words: environmental professional, environmental services, status

Abstract: The environmental consulting and engineering business (environmental services industry) has evolved rapidly since its inception as a business enterprise in the United States during the 1960s. Initially, ex-university professors, technical specialists and professionals from allied disciplines (e.g., civil and sanitary engineering) dominated the industry by expanding individual practices into "new" businesses as the regulatory-driven demand for their services rapidly grew. Roughly thirty years later, the environmental services industry is considered a mature industry, dominated by international firms with annual gross revenues in excess of $1 billion. The rapid manner in which the industry has changed over time has significantly encouraged, enhanced, disrupted, altered and, perhaps, ended the careers of environmental professionals. As the industry enters its' middle age, it is useful to review how the industry has evolved over time and determine whether this information can be used to predict how the industry is likely to change in the future. Such an analysis will also reveal how professionals will have to react and change to remain current under these dynamic circumstances.

The objectives of this presentation will be to:
  • Describe three distinct phases in the development of the environmental regulatory infrastructure in the United States.
  • Review how this evolving infrastructure spurred the creation and growth of the environmental services industry.
  • Discuss how consolidation has changed the environmental service industry over the past ten years.
  • Detail the current status of the industry

This process will provide a basis from which we will attempt to predict how the environmental services industry will change in the near future. These predictions will be used to identify the training, education and requisite skills environmental professionals will require to be successful in the environmental services industry of the new millennium.