Patriot Environmental LLC brings on new vice president of operations

Ryan Bunch has joined Patriot Environmental LLC as its vice president of operations.

Before joining Patriot Environmental LLC, Bunch worked at Environmental Specialties International (ESI), a large installer of geosynthetic lining materials in the United States. 

In 2019, ESI acquired Patriot Environmental and, since then, the two companies, while operating independently, have worked together at times and have learned from each other and adopted best practices.

While working at ESI, Bunch managed large-scale, multiyear projects in the coal ash and mining industries. During the past four years, he has overseen the installation of more than 90 million square feet of geosynthetic material.

Bunch started his career at Southern Co., where he worked for 14 years. During his time there, he worked in the company’s engineering and construction services department where he managed contracts and the construction of capital projects for the company’s generation facilities. Bunch has extensive experience managing capital projects involving ash pond closures, dry ash landfill closures and power-generating facility assets.

“Ryan brings a different skill set. I’ve had the pleasure to collaborate with him over the last few years on different things, so when the time came to bring in a true-blue operations guy, he was my first choice,” Patriot Environmental President Cody Smithson says. “Ryan is going to be pivotal to our continued growth over the next few years. I’m excited to see a new approach and perspective to how we operate, and even better service our valued customers.”

Ryan and his family have relocated to Shawnee, Oklahoma to join Patriot’s staff at its corporate office in Meeker, Oklahoma.

With offices in Meeker, Oklahoma, and Odessa, Texas, Patriot Environmental is a specialty contractor primarily serving the oil and gas and solid waste industries in the U.S. The company provides and installs geosynthetic materials, remote monitoring, drone scans, aeration, erosion control materials, polyurea spray lining and secondary metal containment systems for a variety of applications. Patriot Environmental is an industry leader in the supply and installation of geosynthetic materials used to line pits and impoundments.