Frank Firsching, Chief Executive Officer of Critica Infrastructure, brings over 30 years of experience starting, leading and building businesses serving the water & wastewater, energy, civil/structural, and power utility industries, with an emphasis the past 17 years on pipeline rehabilitation technologies. Most recently, he served as the President of the $600 million Infrastructure Solutions business unit of Aegion Corporation. He was a founding partner in Underground Solutions, Inc. which was sold to Aegion in 2016. Frank spent 13 years with USFilter where he was President of the $1.0 billion Water & Wastewater Systems Group.

Frank has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Virginia, an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and is past chair of the North American Society for Trenchless Technology (NASTT).

Emily Robertson, Chief Financial Officer of Critica Infrastructure, has more than 15 years of finance and strategy experience in the industrial services and manufacturing space. She began her career as a management consultant with the Parthenon Group in Boston, and has worked in various corporate finance roles at The Brock Group, PSC, Waste Management, and Continental Airlines. Emily earned an MBA from Harvard Business School as well as a B.S. degree in Business Administration from Washington and Lee University.

Cedric Oudinot, a global energy executive with 20 years of experience, is President of the CSNRI Composites division. Prior to this, Cedric was Vice President for the global engineered products unit at Shawcor, a global pipeline services company, where he held multiple positions over 10 years including business development, M&A, and Product Management. Cedric also worked at strategic and advisory firm Booz & Co in the Energy and Chemicals practice and started his career with a software company providing process simulation solutions for O&G downstream clients. Cedric is an Ingenieur from ENSIGC in France, received a MSc in Chemical Engineering from the University of Houston and MBA from the University of Texas.

Amit Chaudhary, a global growth leader with 20 years of experience, is General Manager of the Advanced Valve Technologies division. Prior to this, Amit held Senior vice president of operations role at Advanced Valve Technologies. Prior to joining Critica Infrastructure, Amit worked at Stericycle, a waste management company and Eaton corporation, an electrical manufacturing company, where he held multiple roles including Business transformation, Innovation, Operations, Engineering, M&A and Operational excellence. Amit is a Mechanical Engineer, with an avid inclination towards lean six sigma methodologies and have mentored over 250 lean practitioners operating globally.

John Hepfinger is President of the GeoTree Division. Before joining the company, John filled the role of Global Market Director, Milliken Infrastructure Solutions, at Milliken & Company. He has more than 30 years of experience in managing and growing startup ventures across a range of markets, including apparel, telecom, and infrastructure. Throughout his career, he has held leadership positions in manufacturing, product innovation, sales, and global business development. John earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He holds several U.S. and international patents in a variety of disciplines.

Mark Brand is President of the Fyfe Division. Before Fyfe became part of Critica Infrastructure Mark led the brand at its former home for four years with an additional three years working as an Area Manager at Fyfe. He has more than 25 years of experience working within engineering, construction, manufacturing, and rehabilitation industries. Mark is a professional engineer with a successful record of managing multi-disciplinary teams in complex business environments that encompass; civil engineering, project management, manufacturing, formal quality control systems, technical sales & business development, estimating and competitive analysis.

As Chief Marketing Officer & Chief Information Officer of Critica Infrastructure, Vikki Dunn has supported the transformation of the company since 2016. Vikki has more than 30 years of experience executing growth strategies in energy, industrial markets, computing, and telecommunications. She drives growth through understanding market needs, commercializing differentiated value propositions, and delivering stakeholder engagement and communications plans that build brands and enhance reputation. Prior to joining the executive team at Critica Infrastructure, Vikki held the positions of CMO for the GE Oil and Gas upstream equipment business and Global Marketing Director for Shell Global Solutions. Vikki completed the Executive Leadership Program at IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland, and holds a B.S. degree in Engineering from Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

Joe Royer is Vice President, R&D and Product Development. Prior to this role, he was the Development Manager for Milliken Infrastructure Solutions with responsibility for all technical aspects of the operations, including R&D, QC Testing, Engineering, Product Application and Partner Training. Previously, he was Director of Innovation for the Performance Products Division at Milliken & Company responsible for innovation and growth initiatives across multiple business units including Building & Infrastructure, Tire & Mechanical Rubber Goods, and Protective Materials for Military Applications.  

He has trained a variety of contractors across the globe in spray applied linings and has supervised numerous geopolymer installations in the North America, South America, Hong Kong and Eastern Europe.

Joe holds a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame (’95) and a Ph. D. in Chemical Engineering from North Carolina State University (’00). Joe has written numerous papers and presented design details for structural pipe rehabilitation systems using geopolymer mortars.

Denise Halaska, whose career spans more than 20 years in various Human Resources (HR) roles, is the Chief Human Resources Officer for Critica Infrastructure. Previously, Denise was Vice President of HR at LivaNova for six years and Director of HR with Pacific Drilling Services. Previously, she spent 13 years at Air Liquide USA, where she held roles including Recruiting Manager, HR Business Partner, Director of HR Shared Services, and Director of HR Process Excellence.

Denise received her B.S. in Business Administration from Bowling Green State University and her MBA with an emphasis in Organization Development from University of Houston Clear Lake. She is certified as a Senior Professional in HR and is a Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) Senior Certified Professional.