internal
James C. Fish, Jr.
Chief Executive Officer
Executive
9 yr
11 reports
Waste Management, Inc. ·WM
Functional org with three operations SVPs under a COO
Business Services · Fortune #197 · Functional structure · 62K employees · Houston, TX
8
CEO span
near peer avg (8)
2.5
Avg span
tight
3
Max depth
3 levels
3.6 yr
Avg tenure
90%
Internal hires
↑ above industry avg
Consolidated financials FY2025 · period end 2025-12-31 · 10-K
Revenue
$25.2B
Operating income
$4.3B
Net income
$2.7B
Total assets
$45.8B
Shares out
403M
Sourced from Waste Management, Inc. DEF 14A · filed 2026-03-31 ↗ View on SEC
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Waste Management, Inc. organizational chart
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Functional org with three operations SVPs under a COO. This page maps Waste Management’s executive structure, highlighting the COO-led operations model, executive team tenure, compensation, recent leadership changes, and peer comparisons.
What to model
Use the chart to test org decisions, not just view reporting lines
Start with the public baseline, then use the scenario views and source-backed changes to ask what happens when leadership, span, or team ownership shifts.
Latest signal Devina A. Rankin departed as EVP and Chief Financial Officer
Voluntarily resigned effective Nov 1, 2025; served as advisor through Mar 13, 2026.
Source · See change logScenario views in the chart
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Atlas work this supports
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The people
Who's running this
11 executives identified as Named Executive Officers in the most recent SEC proxy. Bar length scales with tenure.
internal
John J. Morris, Jr.
President and Chief Operating Officer
Operations
1 yr
2 reports
internal
David L. Reed
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Finance
1 yr
1 reports
internal
Charles C. Boettcher
Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer
Legal
2 yr
0 reports
internal
Kimberly G. Stith
Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer
Human Resources
2 yr
0 reports
internal
Johnson Varkey
Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer
Information Technology
2 yr
0 reports
internal
Tara J. Hemmer
Senior Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer
Sustainability
4 yr
0 reports
internal
Michael J. Watson
Senior Vice President and Chief Customer Officer
Customer
7 yr
0 reports
internal
Rafael E. Carrasco
Senior Vice President Enterprise Strategy; President WM Healthcare Solutions
Strategy
3 yr
0 reports
internal
Christopher P. DeSantis
Senior Vice President Operations
Operations
2 yr
0 reports
internal
Donald J. Smith
Senior Vice President Operations
Operations
3 yr
0 reports
The pay
Executive compensation
From the most recent DEF 14A Summary Compensation Table. 2 named executive officers disclosed. Bar length scales with total compensation.
James C. Fish, Jr. $19.0M
- Base salary
- $1.49M
- Stock awards
- $12.41M
- Option awards
- $2.40M
- Non-equity incentive
- $2.47M
- Other
- $283K
- Fiscal year
- FY2025
- Source
- SEC DEF 14A ↗
David L. Reed $2.0M
- Base salary
- $461K
- Stock awards
- $995K
- Option awards
- $475K
- Non-equity incentive
- $38K
- Fiscal year
- FY2025
- Source
- SEC DEF 14A ↗
The skin in the game
Beneficial ownership
Insider stock holdings and the company's ownership requirements for executives and directors. Disclosed in the most recent DEF 14A.
Stock ownership requirements
All executive officers are subject to stock ownership guidelines per proxy.
The businesses
How Waste Management, Inc. divides the work
3 divisions report into the group CEO. Tile size scales with estimated headcount.
Operations
50K employees
President and Chief Operating Officer (John J. Morris, Jr.)
Manages collection, transfer, disposal, recycling and field operations across North America.
Finance
2K employees
EVP and Chief Financial Officer (David L. Reed)
Oversees financial reporting, planning, treasury and accounting.
Sustainability
300 employees
SVP and Chief Sustainability Officer (Tara J. Hemmer)
Leads environmental strategy, renewable energy and ESG initiatives.
The thesis
Why this org is unusual
Functional org with three operations SVPs under a COO.
Waste Management centralizes strategy, finance, legal, HR, IT, sustainability and customer under the CEO, while routing field execution through a President/COO who oversees multiple regional operations leaders. The structure reflects asset-heavy operations with strong functional control and limited product P&L autonomy.
- Three separate operations SVPs
- Dedicated Chief Sustainability Officer at C-suite level
The comparison
How Waste Management, Inc. stacks up
Compared with peers like Republic Services and Waste Connections, WM retains a more traditional functional model with a clearly empowered COO and multiple operations SVPs. Peers often push more autonomy to regional presidents or operate with fewer corporate functions reporting directly to the CEO.
C-suite size
Reporting depth
Waste Management, Inc.
3 levels
4 levels
Waste Connections
4 levels
Clean Harbors
5 levels
Veolia
5 levels
Avg C-suite tenure
Has COO / Has CAIO
Waste Management, Inc. ✓ COO — no CAIO
Waste Connections — no COO — no CAIO
Clean Harbors ✓ COO — no CAIO
Veolia ✓ COO — no CAIO
Current signals
What changed recently
Most significant change was the CFO transition from Devina Rankin to internally promoted David Reed.
Leadership Timeline
Year-over-year executive structure based on SEC proxy and annual filings.
FY2025
DEF 14A filed 2026-03-31
- CEO
- James C. Fish, Jr.
- CEO span
- 8
- C-suite
- 8
- Avg tenure
- 3.5 yr
Year marked by CFO succession and COO promotion.
Named executive officers (5)
- James C. Fish, Jr. - Chief Executive Officer since 2016
- John J. Morris, Jr. - President and COO since 2019
- David L. Reed - Chief Financial Officer since 2025
- Tara J. Hemmer - Chief Sustainability Officer since 2021
- Rafael E. Carrasco - SVP Enterprise Strategy since 2023
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the CEO of Waste Management?
James C. Fish, Jr. has served as CEO since November 2016.
What type of organizational structure does Waste Management use?
Waste Management operates a primarily functional organizational structure.
How many direct reports does Waste Management's CEO have?
The CEO has eight direct reports at the C-suite and SVP level.
How has Waste Management's leadership changed recently?
The most notable change was the CFO transition in late 2025, with David Reed succeeding Devina Rankin.
Does Waste Management have a COO?
Yes. John J. Morris, Jr. serves as President and Chief Operating Officer, overseeing operations.
Sources
- 8-K Filing, Mar 13 2026
- Company Proxy, Mar 2026
- SEC EDGAR: Waste Management, Inc. DEF 14A Proxy Statement
- SEC EDGAR: Waste Management, Inc. 10-K Annual Report
Reference
Cite this page
If you reference this page in research, analysis, or news writing, use one of the formats below. Citation includes the SEC filing source where applicable.
APA 7th
Creately. (2026). Waste Management, Inc. organizational structure. Creately. Retrieved , from https://creately.com/org-chart/fortune-500/waste-management-wm/MLA 9th
"Waste Management, Inc. Organizational Structure." Creately, April 1, 2026, https://creately.com/org-chart/fortune-500/waste-management-wm/. Accessed .Chicago 17
Creately. "Waste Management, Inc. Organizational Structure." Last modified April 1, 2026. https://creately.com/org-chart/fortune-500/waste-management-wm/.Original SEC source View on SEC ↗
Waste Management, Inc.. DEF 14A. Filed 2026-03-31. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/823768/000110465926037381/tm261369-1_def14a.htmPermanent URL: https://creately.com/org-chart/fortune-500/waste-management-wm/ · last updated 2026-04-01