About us

Christopher Beaufait is President and CEO of Heartland, where he combines technology-driven leadership with a commitment to transforming environmental challenges into sustainable opportunities. With a career spanning robotics, aerospace, and renewable energy, Chris is uniquely positioned to lead Heartland’s mission of reducing and transforming waste into valuable resources and renewable energy.

Previously, Chris served as CEO of Sharper Shape, where he advanced the use of AI and digital twin technologies to mitigate climate-related risks to critical infrastructure. He also served as COO of Sarcos Robotics, scaling advanced exoskeleton technologies, and as Group SVP for Vestas Asia Pacific, where he rebuilt and expanded the business, achieving triple-digit growth in orders, revenue, and profits while significantly increasing Vestas’ presence across key energy markets. At General Electric, Chris forged strategic partnerships, including the first and largest US-China joint venture in avionics, positioning GE to capitalize on emerging opportunities in China and laying a strong foundation for long-term growth.

Chris currently serves on the boards of Heartland and Sharper Shape. He previously served on the boards of Azelio, a concentrated solar power company that went public in Sweden, and Securrency, a blockchain company that brings compliance to finance through technology. His board contributions reflect a dedication to leveraging innovative technologies to create stakeholder value, aligning closely with Heartland’s mission.

His experience as a U.S. Navy nuclear officer has instilled the adaptability and resilience needed to tackle complex challenges—qualities that now drive Heartland’s focus on creating a cleaner, more sustainable future.

David Allworth serves as Chief Financial Officer for Heartland, providing more than 35 years’ experience in corporate financial management & accounting.

Prior to joining Heartland, Dave was CFO for TerraTherm, Inc., a thermal remediation services company where he drove finance and business process improvements and lead the company through a successful sale to private equity-backed Cascade Environmental.

Prior to TerraTherm, Dave was CFO for a start-up waste-to-energy technology company, VP Finance for a semiconductor test equipment manufacturer, and served in a variety of financial management roles for a multi-national software company.

Dave earned his CPA certificate while working at KPMG, and received a BS in Business Administration, with concentrations in Accounting and Finance, from Oregon State University.

David Howard Jr. serves as the EVP of Customer Operations. With over 25 years of solid waste industry experience, David brings deep financial and operational expertise to the team and our customers.

Prior to joining Heartland, David held lead operational roles for Hanover County, VA and WM. As a Senior District Manager with WM, David managed all aspects of safe daily landfill site operations, leading a team which processed over 1.8M tons of waste annually.

In his role leading Heartland’s customer operations, David focuses on supporting Heartland’s customers and helping to solve operational challenges. His broad landfill management experience including permitting, landfill gas capture, and public relations makes him suitable to lead Heartland’s delivery and operation of complete turnkey solutions.

David earned a Master of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Science Business Administration from Strayer University where he graduated Summa Cum Laude.

Susan Portin is the EVP of Business and Legal Affairs for Heartland.  Susan has almost 40 years of diverse global experience as a corporate attorney, M&A specialist, senior business leader and strategic management consultant.

Susan possesses a deep understanding of company operations, particularly in the many areas where business intersects with law, risk, compliance and governance. She has worked in a broad array of traditional large corporate and entrepreneurial business models across many industries and her experience spans a variety of key functional areas including business operations, legal, risk and compliance, M&A, financing, administration, corporate communications, human resources, board and investor relations and strategic planning.

Susan earned a BA degree from Union College, a Masters degree in Public Relations from Boston University and a Law Degree from Emory University. She is licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia and an inactive member of the Pennsylvania Bar.

Ben Laurent serves as the leader of Heartland’s Program Management Office and is also responsible for the company’s Software & Controls team. In these roles, Ben spearheads corporate process integration and controls initiatives at both the product and project level. Having been with Heartland since 2014, Ben has enjoyed serving in a variety of roles as the company has continued to grow and evolve.

Ben has a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with an extensive background in process engineering and controls.

Matthew (Matt) Kuzma serves as Managing Director, Water for Heartland. Matt brings over 30 years of experience in the water space, primarily focused on advanced technologies such as membrane filtration & membrane bioreactors (applied for water reuse), nutrient recovery, anaerobic digestion (with energy recovery), advanced biological wastewater processes, and industrial water treatment. He is responsible for leading the growth and expansion of a well-established business into new markets, applications, and opportunities while continuing to foster Heartland’s well-established water management technologies.

Prior to Heartland, Matt has worked at USFilter, Veolia, Siemens Water, Anaergia, Organica Water, Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies.
Matt has a B.S. in Engineering from Miami University, and currently resides in Southern California.

Jeff Snyder serves as Managing Director, Waste with over 25 years of experience in Water and Wastewater Management to include conversion of biosolids and biomass.

Jeff has held the roles of Chief Marketing Officer for MaxWest Environmental Systems and Senior Vice President of Business Development for Aries Clean Energy. Jeff has participated in raising Corporate and Project equity for gasification projects and is commissioned to deliver lectures internationally on thermal conversion technologies.

In 2011, Jeff was instrumental in the design, development and installation of a Fluidized Bed Gasification System that processed Biosolids from Wastewater Treatment Plants as the sole feedstock in Sanford, FL. In addition, Jeff led the commissioning and operation of the gasifier which included sludge dewatering and drying as components of the gasification operations. As a result of Jeff’s vast knowledge in gasification, in December 2013, Jeff was directly responsible for securing a Determination for USEPA that a Gasifier Operating on sewage sludge was not an incinerator.

Jeff is also a veteran of the United States Air Force where he was hand-picked to participate in the operational development of the F-117A Stealth Fighter.