BrightView, a privately held landscaping giant with 22,000 employees and $2 billion-plus in annual revenue, has named a new chief executive. Owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. LP, or KKR, BrightView announced Wednesday afternoon the company had named Andrew Masterman as its new president and CEO.
Pat Velasco, who had served as interim chief executive since July 2016, will remain on BrightView’s board of directors. Velasco stepped in after Andrew Kerin, who was tapped to lead BrightView when it was formed by the combination of ValleyCrest Landscape Companies and the Brickman Group, the landscaping industry’s biggest companies. KKR bought Brickman in 2013 and ValleyCrest in May 2014, combining the companies later that year. Kerin had been with Brickman since 2012 when he was chosen to lead the combined company, which was renamed BrightView.
KKR executive Paul Raether, chairman of BrightView’s board, noted Masterman’s experience in a variety of senior executive posts and thanked Velasco for his leadership of the company since Kerin’s departure in July.
“I am thrilled to join the team at BrightView,” Masterman said in the statement. “This is a tremendous opportunity to work with a passionate and talented team to grow the premier commercial landscaping company by continuing to deliver best-in-class landscape services across the nation to our valued clients.”
Masterman joins BrightView next month after serving as executive vice president at Precision Castparts, a Berkshire Hathaway company that specializes in manufacturing structural investment castings, forged components and airfoil castings for aircraft engines and industrial gas turbines.
At Precision Castparts, Masterman served as president of the Wyman Gordon and Structural Casting segments, two key segments within the approximately $7 billion Investment Cast Products and Forged Products segments. Prior to Precision Castparts, Masterman served as president and CEO of North America for ESAB Group Inc., a company specializing in welding and cutting equipment and consumables.
Masterman will be based in BrightView’s Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, location.
BrightView serves housing communities, corporate campuses, healthcare facilities, universities, retail establishments and resorts, among other landscaping clients.