Sarah Bolton
Sarah Bolton
New Business Development Manager
Sarah Christine Bolton has more than two decades of experience in the solid waste industry. She was previously the new business development manager at consulting firm Blue Ridge Services (BRS) Montana and assisted with technical writing and editing, training development, multi-media management, content creation, and marketing. She holds a Bachelor in Arts from Belhaven University and a Master of Arts from the University of Memphis. She holds a Zero Waste Certification from the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA).

At BRS, Sarah focused on client relationships, marketing, content creation, and new business development. She has extensive experience in creating interactive training material for the solid waste industry and created the industry’s most comprehensive on-demand training library. Sarah has edited articles, books, and training materials related to the waste industry for more than 15 years and has published work in regional and national industry publications.

Sarah has been a key member of the Standards Committee for Solid Waste Environmental Excellence Performance (SWEEP), a certification standard for the solid waste industry. She has been instrumental in assisting with the writing and review of certification standards while working with various committees and most recently managed the redevelopment of the Manager of Landfill Operations Course and Certification Exam. She has presented at numerous SWANA conferences and is an instructor of the Zero Waste Certification course managed by SWANA. Most recently, she co-taught the Zero Waste course in an online format for CRRA.

Neal Bolton
Neal Bolton
Blue Ridge Services
President
Neal Bolton has more than 43 years of experience in the solid waste industry. In 1988, Mr. Bolton formed his own consulting company – Blue Ridge Services. His team provides operational consulting services for a wide range of private and municipal solid waste/recycling facilities, landfills, transfer stations, collections operations, material recovery facilities, and green waste facilities throughout North America and abroad. He is the author of The Handbook of Landfill Operations and created the industry’s most comprehensive safety training program for transfer stations, landfills, and collections. He and his team have pioneered the use of process improvement tools in the solid waste industry and have broken new ground with the use of drone technology for waste management mapping and planning. Neal has been a volunteer on SWANA’s training faculty for 25 years. His team recently completed the development of the new MOLO course.

Bob Watts
Mr. Bob Watts
Chester County Solid Waste Authority
Executive Director
Robert Watts has been the Executive Director of the Chester County Solid Waste Authority (CCSWA) for more than 25 years. CCSWA operates a landfill, composting operation and a residential recycling drop off center that is in southeastern Pennsylvania, USA.
For SWANA, Mr., Watts currently serves as the Awards Committee Chairman of the Landfill Technical Division. He was member of SWANA’s International Board for more than 10 years. Mr. Watts is on the SWANA Faculty and has been a MOLO instructor for more than 20 years. He is the former director of the Landfill Gas and Biogas Technical Division.

Michelle Langdon
Michelle Langdon
Great West Engineering
Senior Project Manager/Engineer
Michelle Langdon is a professional civil engineer with over 19 years of experience. She has a bachelor’s degree from Portland State University and a master’s degree from Norwich University, both in Civil Engineering. Michelle is a Project Manager and Engineer for Great West specializing in all aspects of Waste Management, from landfills to transfer stations to HHW facilities. Michelle began her career working for a County landfill for almost a decade and she brings this unique perspective to her teaching. Michelle passionate about teaching, bridging the planning/operations gap and providing realistic and unique solutions to waste management challenges.

Michelle currently resides in Boise with her family and 2 goofy labs. She enjoys anything outdoors, spends her summers in the water and loves to challenge herself by participating in triathlons and mud runs.

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Scott Messier
Snohomish County
Solid Waste Operations Manager

Linda Churchill
Linda Churchill
Region of Waterloo
Sr Environmental Engineer
I am an environmental engineer with over 30 years working at a municipal Ontario landfill involved in various monitoring and construction projects.