Greenville Water Announces New Hires & Promotion

GREENVILLE, SC – April 27, 2012 – Greenville Water is pleased to make the following announcements of new hires and promotions.

Ben Rankin, P.E., joined Greenville Water as Senior Engineer. He manages the day-to-day operations of the Engineering Department and is tasked with exploring new ways to improve efficiency and improve policies and procedures.  In addition, Mr. Rankin manages the water main design and construction program and interacts with project partners, including customers, SCDHEC, SCDOT, the City of Greenville, local county governments, and other utility providers and municipalities within the service area.  Mr. Rankin will also work with land developers on planning issues surrounding potential growth opportunities.

Mr. Rankin earned a Civil Engineering degree from Clemson University and is a registered Professional Engineer in both North and South Carolina.  He has 30 years of experience in Project Engineering/Management and started his career working on the Capital Construction Military Program with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.  He is the former City Engineer and Utilities Director for the City of Clemson and comes to Greenville Water from the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Athens, Georgia, where he served as State Construction Engineer.

Mr. Rankin most recently received the United States Department of Agriculture’s Certificate of Merit in 2010 and 2011 for completion of a Capital Watershed Dam Rehabilitation Program, and previously received the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Special Commendation for the largest dollar value of military construction placement in Savannah District at the time.

Gene Sulek was hired as Purchasing Administrator. He is responsible for fleet management of all Greenville Water vehicles, purchasing transactions, and facilities management. 

Mr. Sulek brings extensive experience in procurement and logistics management. He most recently worked at RMT, Inc. where he worked onsite at large scale renewable energy construction projects in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin, Indiana and New Jersey.  Mr. Sulek worked on both PV panel and Wind Turbine installation projects generating in excess of 900MW of power. He was trained in Six Sigma as a Black Belt and earned a Bachelor of General Studies in Business Administration from Furman University.

H. Richard Hansman joined Greenville Water’s Engineering department as an Engineer II.  He is responsible for design, permitting and inspection of water mains designed in-house.  His responsibilities also include coordinating main replacement projects where streets are being resurfaced, and he serves as Project Engineer for the 72-inch transmission main rehabilitation.

Mr. Hansman has a decade of experience as a project engineer with design and survey firms across the region. He is the recipient of two WEASC awards for the Blue Ridge Foothills district, including the 2008 Brown Trout Volunteer Award and the 2007 Young Professional of the Year. Mr. Hansman earned his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the

University of North Carolina at Charlotte and his Associates Degree in Civil Engineering from Spartanburg Technical College.

Jan Marlar-Tinsley was promoted to Supervisor of Billing & Records. She is responsible for managing the department staff, ensuring process efficiency, and addressing customer concerns and questions. Her duties also include auditing weekly billing cycles for accuracy and evaluating accounts and contracts.  A 25-year veteran of Greenville Water, Ms. Marlar-Tinsley was part of the team that helped launch Greenville Water’s first bank draft operations in 1992. Ms. Marlar-Tinsley earned certificates from Greenville Technical College’s Supervisory Series and Supervisory Program.