GFL Environmental Inc. has appointed Allen Gransch chief operating officer, effective Oct. 1, installing the former Secure Waste CEO at the top of the Miami Beach-based environmental services provider's operations just weeks after the company closed its acquisition of Secure Waste Infrastructure Corp.

Gransch joined GFL in September when the Secure Waste deal was finalized. His elevation to COO places an operator with nearly 20 years at the Canadian waste infrastructure firm in direct control of GFL's operating platform at a moment when the company is integrating a large-scale acquisition.

Who is Allen Gransch?

Gransch joined Secure in 2007 and moved through a sequence of senior leadership roles — chief financial officer, chief operating officer, and ultimately president and CEO, a title he took in May 2024. That trajectory gives GFL an executive who has run both the financial and operational sides of a diversified waste management business.

GFL CEO Patrick Dovigi emphasized that track record in the appointment announcement.

"Across his nearly 20-year career at Secure, Allen was instrumental in establishing and implementing the company's strategic direction, including leading through transformative change, driving operational execution and building high-performing teams," Dovigi said. "Allen's proven leadership capabilities, extensive experience overseeing a large-scale, diversified waste management platform and his broad skill set make him exceptionally well-suited to advance GFL's operational and growth goals."

What happens to outgoing COO Billy Soffera?

Billy Soffera, GFL's previous COO, will transition to a senior strategic advisor role, according to the company. He will continue to lead GFL's value-creative corporate initiatives.

Dovigi credited Soffera with driving the company's enterprise-wide initiatives over the past five years as COO — the span during which GFL scaled significantly through acquisition and organic growth across its solid waste, liquid waste and environmental services segments.

The shift keeps Soffera's institutional knowledge inside the company while handing day-to-day operating authority to the incoming Secure executive, a structure that signals GFL intends to move quickly on integrating the newly acquired waste infrastructure platform rather than running it at arm's length.

Why the timing matters

The appointment lands less than a month after GFL finalized the Secure Waste acquisition in September, a deal that adds Secure's network of industrial waste, energy waste and recycling infrastructure to GFL's footprint. Gransch's immediate mandate will be folding that asset base into GFL's existing operations.

The personnel move also follows a familiar pattern in the waste sector, where acquirers frequently elevate leadership from acquired companies to oversee the combined platform. Gransch's dual background as CFO and COO of Secure positions him to manage both the cost synergies and the operational consolidation that will determine whether the deal delivers its projected returns.

For GFL, the stakes are operational discipline at scale. The company has built its strategy on consolidated collection routes, divested and retained infrastructure assets, and margin improvement across its North American footprint. Integrating Secure's diversified waste infrastructure — and doing so under a single operating leader — is the next test of that playbook.

The milestone to watch now is execution: GFL's next earnings reports will show whether the combined platform's volumes and margins reflect the integration Gransch has been hired to run.