Today we’d like to introduce you to Lori DeVito.
Lori, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
We founded AET Environmental in 1993 in Colorado. The “we” are me Lori DeVito, a former Dean of Students of a business college in New York City, and Arthur Clark, a chemist and biochemist. Our original service was established to help small manufacturers in disposing of their hazardous waste. We were lucky enough to be able to hire 2 former employees of a chemical manufacturing firm that had closed its doors: One was a hazmat driver, the other was an account manager.
We knew that companies that purchased chemicals for their manufacturing, analytical, and industrial processes would inevitably have a byproduct of the process, and that byproduct would be hazardous waste. And lucky for us, the small and middle market customer that we serviced were pretty much ignored by the large waste management firms at that time. These customers were so grateful to have a company that wanted to assist them, and exceeding expectations in customer service was my mission. So we made our contacts with disposal facilities, and away we went.
By 1994, our Salt Lake City office was established and then Las Vegas in 1995. Salt Lake was more heavy industry, whereas Las Vegas was mostly gaming at the time. Over this period AET began adding technical site services such as lab packing, tank cleaning, other industrial cleaning services as well as training and compliance activities.
Dallas! Next came Dallas! We had a Denver account manager whose family had moved to Dallas and we did a little research and started. The heavy manufacturing in Dallas was defense, life sciences and semi-conductors.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
In the middle of all that, I applied to the SBA as a Section 8(a) company. At that time, around 2001, they were just starting to accept women as being culturally and economically disadvantaged, and so that was an interesting time for us. It definitely helped our growth curve for the time we were, but then, it was several years of catch up once we graduated from the program.
Those Dallas heavy manufacturing clients are tough nuts to crack. By the time we opened Dallas, the whole environmental industry had matured, and most companies were not so desperate for service anymore: they were and are being serviced. So we are always earning business, but what that means nowadays is that we have to take that business from someone else, earn the client’s trust and get them to actually change service providers. Dallas has a well-rounded economy, but getting into some of the Fortune 500 companies here has been a challenge.
The state of the general economy also affects us in some ways. When the economy contracts, all industry and manufacturing, health care, life sciences, universities, they all contract as well. The good thing is that our customers come from diversified industries, so if one is really struggling, at least the others are still humming.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with AET Environmental – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
We specialize in 3 buckets of services:
• Hazardous, industrial, low-level radioactive, and medical waste transportation and disposal.
• In-plant support and remediation: Plant shut downs, lab packs, lab decontamination, tank cleaning.
• Training and compliance: RCRA site services, compliance audits, waste water sampling, SPCCs, risk plans, etc.
Clients are defense, aerospace, life sciences, manufacturing, health care, hotels, gaming, R&D labs, government, all businesses and agencies that keep our economy and communities humming. I imagine that I am most proud when I can be driving down the highway or any area at all and say, “we did such and such for this client, and solved a huge problem for that client.
What sets us apart is Hand holding. We work hand in hand with companies who are grappling with some very troublesome environmental issues, and we provide guidance, assistance, and support to lessen their anxiety, assisting them throughout the entire process.
Also, proud of being the first full-service waste management firms, that offers options and choices to clients. We present several waste disposal and recycling options based on technologies, and explain the pros and cons to clients.
We have absolutely the best teams in each of our areas. We have compliance specialists who can answer virtually any question that a client might have.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
I want to move more fully into environmental sustainability planning for companies.
Despite politics, I do not think that anyone wants us to go back in time to the days when companies could just dump their hazardous waste in the river or in their backyards…
And the second thing is community involvement. We have been very active in the outdoors Dallas community with the Texas Fish and Wildlife Organization, and we intend to continue our volunteerism into the deep fabric of the community! We work closely with STEM classes in some of our other regions, and this is a fantastic place to start the process.
Contact Info:
- Address: 2141 Collins Rd. Ste 701
Denton, TX 76208 - Website: www.aetenvironmental.com
- Phone: 970-380-0003
- Email: info@aetenvironmental.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aetenvironmental
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/AETEnvironment
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
