How We Got Here

Kerry founded Balcones Resources in 1994 with a small group of investors and a focus on commercial recycling in Austin, Texas. Prior to starting Balcones, Kerry was a regional recycling manager for Waste Management and was part of a family owned recycling business.  He also served as a Director and CEO of a Texas Bank holding company.

Kerry is a frequent speaker at national and state recycling trade events and is a two-time finalist for the Ernst and Youngs Entrepreneur of the Year Award. He serves on the advisory board of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at the University of Texas.

Kerry attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he was an anthropology major, and wanted to become Indiana Jones, before there was an Indiana Jones. He gave up the pursuit to become a pitcher in the Texas Rangers Organization, while finishing his degree at Texas Wesleyan.  According to NASA, several of his ill-fated pitches can still be tracked in orbit today. Kerry graduated from Texas Wesleyan where he received a BA with a major in Political Science.

As the CEO and President of Balcones Resources, Adam is responsible for overseeing operations, finance, and business development, while driving the strategic direction of the Company. He manages senior leadership and works closely with the Board of Directors and Balcones stakeholders to execute the Company’s mission to transform the nation into a true circular economy. Prior to this role, he served as Chief Finance Officer (CFO) of Balcones for 10 years. 

Adam has served on the Board of Hill Country Conservancy for 7 years, including roles on the Executive Committee and as the Finance Chair. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Vanderbilt University and a JD/MBA from the University of Arkansas. 

Rusty leads Balcones Resources’ Commodities Group and coordinates the incoming recyclable material with the end-user demand for fiber and pulp products, developing relationships with paper mills around the world. Rusty started in 1979 at the Dallas recycling company founded by his father, Richard Getter. 

Rusty has successfully positioned Balcones as the top provider of high-quality paper-making products – earning the company a reputation as innovators in an otherwise traditional marketplace.  Rusty is a frequent speaker at industry events such as the Paper Recycling Conference and the Southeast Paper Recycling Conference. Rusty graduated from the University of Texas with a BA in Radio-TV-Film and played baseball for The Longhorns.  

As the leader of Balcones’ business development team, Joaquin is on a mission to bring the company’s expertise and commitment to recycling to more communities in the southern United States. Joaquin previously served as the company’s Chief Operating Officer, Vice President of Operations, and General Manager of the Austin division. His combination of operations experience and passion for enhancing the MRF’s role as the pioneer of the circular economy, makes him what some in the business like to call a “true believer”, a moniker that he wears with pride. 

Before coming to Balcones, Joaquin was the Co-Executive Director of the historic Central Texas nonprofit, Ecology Action of Texas. His efforts there led to increased access to recycling opportunities for Austin’s residents and an expanded awareness of the importance of recycling and other landfill diversion activities across the state. Today, he sits on the organization’s Board of Directors.  Joaquin is an Alumni of the University of Texas where he received a BA in English. He loves cooking, camping, and hiking with his beloved children. As a retired rugby player, he still maintains dreams of a comeback career but is mostly now a fan and Oldboy for local Austin club, Huns RFC. 

Robb joined Balcones as its COO in December 2021. He brings to Balcones over 30 years of recycling and waste management industry experience and a track record of excellence in operations optimization and leadership development. He has held leadership roles in a variety of industrial scale processing companies. Most recently, he was AMP Robotics’ Vice President of Facility Development and Operations. He has previously served as COO at Midwest Recycling Service and Sales where he helped to design, build, commission, and optimize numerous material recovery facilities (MRFs) nationwide.  Prior to that, he held leadership positions for Rational Energies, Bulk Handling Systems (BHS), Greenstar North America, and TRI-R Systems Corp. 

Robb holds a BA in Organizational Development from Regis University. He is a big fan of the outdoors and adventure.  

As the VP of Operations, Mike is responsible for the recycling and hauling operations at the Balcones Austin, Dallas, and Taylor facilities. Mike joined Balcones in 2012 as the Maintenance Manager of the Austin facility and was promoted to VP of Maintenance in 2015 where he was responsible for various duties from managing maintenance activities across all sites to acting as the project manager for equipment installs and retrofits. Through his humble upbringing in the industry, Mike has gained a unique perspective on what it takes to effectively lead operations teams in the demanding recycling environment.

Most recently Mike was employed at AMP Robotics initially as the Director of Customer Service and finishing out his time as the Director of Asset Deployment where he was responsible for planning and executing both robot installations and small MRF installations. Prior to his involvement in the recycling industry, he worked as a foreman for a service company that specialized in repairing document destruction equipment. Mike is also a proud Army veteran servicing both in and active duty and National Guard capacity serving a total of 8 years and completing one deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

An accomplished operations leader and industry expert in non-traditional paper and plastic grades, Jay Saxton is currently responsible for overseeing Balcones’ Arkansas and Florida facilities and for marketing all non-fiber commodities for the company. He joined Balcones in 2011 as the General Manager of the Little Rock, Arkansas plant. In this role, he managed the daily recycling processing operations, and worked closely with customers of all sizes—from small businesses to Fortune 500 firms– to find solutions to divert post-industrial material from the landfill. He also built partnerships with the City of Little Rock, the Arkansas Recycling Coalition, and with regional haulers, and set up a public drop-off for recyclables that were not accepted in the City’s curbside program.

Before joining the recycling business, Jay managed a turf farm for 11 years and handled purchasing in the steel industry. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Horticultural Merchandising from the University of Arkansas.

Natalie is responsible for developing Balcones partnerships throughout the value chain to advance a circular economy and collaborating with the cities where Balcones operates to support their recycling programs. Before joining Balcones, Natalie spent 10 years in public service with the City of Austin, most recently as the City’s Circular Economy Program Manager where she spearheaded numerous reuse, repair, and circular entrepreneurship initiatives.  

Natalie serves on the board of directors for the State of Texas Alliance for Recycling, represents Balcones in the US Plastics Pact, and is a frequent speaker at industry events. Natalie has a BA in Film Studies and Political Science from Emory University, a Masters in Public Affairs from Indiana University, and was a 2019-2020 Robert Bosch Stiftung fellow focused on circular economy innovation in Berlin, Germany. Natalie loves to dance, be outdoors, learn new languages, spend time with her family, and passionately participate in her local Buy Nothing Group. 

Bob McGivney began a career in the waste industry in 2008 when starting Wandering River Recycling, Austin Texas’s first Single Stream Recycling hauling company for businesses and events. Balcones Resources acquired it in 2012 to further grow services for events and the small and medium sized businesses of Austin. Since then, Bob has filled several roles in operations and sales within Balcones Resources and is now Director of Sales for Balcones Recycling, Balcones Shred and Natural State Recycling.

Before the waste industry Bob worked in broadcast media advertising & marketing in print, radio & online sales and earned his BA in Broadcast Communication from San Francisco State University. He enjoys working with Junior Achievement of Central Texas as a course teacher and mentor for young entrepreneurs and working with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Texas to help at risk kids. He loves being outside swimming, hiking, racing mountain bikes and travelling with his wife and two children.

Alexandra joined Balcones Resources in late 2021 as Director of Marketing. She is responsible for planning, implementing and managing all marketing, PR, and brand development initiatives. She also designs, implements, and manages the execution of education programs to support municipalities and customers, and improve recycling performance. She is passionate about collaborating with strategic partners to raise awareness about recycling best practices and their environmental impact.

Prior to joining Balcones Resources, Alexandra managed marketing and media buying teams in the healthcare and technology industries. She developed and project managed the implementation of programmatic media buying, digital media marketing, and product marketing strategies. She earned her MBA in Digital Media Management from St. Edward’s University and a BS in Print & Multimedia Journalism from Emerson College. She is a member of the Women’s Council at the NWRA and loves yoga, live music, spending time with her pets, and getting lost outdoors.

Brenda joined the Balcones team as Director of Accounting in May of 2022. Her responsibilities include leading the accounting team, overseeing month-end close, internal controls, creating and improving processes, audit lead, supporting the Ops Team, and assisting the CFO with special projects. Brenda joined Balcones with 30+ years of accounting experience in the construction industry.

Brenda has a Bachelor of Business in Accounting, is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), and is certified as a SHRM-CP (Society for Human Resource Management – Certified Professional). In her spare time, she enjoys cooking, spending time with her four whippets, photography, hunting, and fishing.

Jason Ramirez joined Balcones Resources as its Director of Environmental Health and Safety in mid-year 2020. He is responsible for providing support and guidance for all operations to ensure the Company’s objectives are achieved in the areas of Safety & Compliance including providing assistance and instructions to all levels of management and employees. Jason brings to Balcones over 20 years of experience in the Environmental, Health & Safety and Risk Management fields. Prior to his involvement in the Recycling Industry, Jason’s previous experience has been primarily in the Warehouse Distribution and the Oil and Gas Industries where he served as the Manager of Environmental, Safety, Fire & Health.

Jason currently serves as a member of the National Waste & Recycling Association, American Society of Safety Professionals, and participates on several sub-committees for the ANSI-Z245 regulatory board.

Victoria is a champion of recycling right. Since starting her career at Balcones in 2015, Victoria has coordinated education and outreach projects across our marketing, sales, and operations divisions to ensure Balcones’ customers and the public know what to recycle and how. She oversees Balcones’ social media channels, community engagement events, community tours, and customer education and training programs. Her English-Spanish bilingualism and graphic design skills expand the reach of Balcones’ educational programming.

Victoria holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking, hiking, and dining out at new-to-her-local eateries with her family.