GG Pique, President and CEO (born May 16, 1947) of Energy Recovery, Inc.(ERI) gained a solid reputation in the water space and reverse osmosis desalination industry due to his strategic vision and unique leadership style within ERI and past companies he was associated with. Under his leadership ERI's revenue experienced a 100-fold increase from the day the company's product became commercially available in 1997.

Water World History

GG worked as a Middle East Regional Sales Manager for Combustion Engineering. Oil was $2 a barrel. He went to school at night to the University of Hartford where he got a Masters in Business Administration. Oil went up 50% to $3 dollars a barrel and by the time GG was 25 he was doing deals in Turkey, Kuwait and Israel. GG learned how to develop and manage a broad territory mentored by smart people.

He had a few career changes which resulted in a position as a Marketing Manager for Dorr Oliver in Stanford, Connecticut, the largest water treatment company. By 1976 at age 29, GG became the Country Manager of Dorr Oliver de Mexico.

After Mexico City, GG joined Fluor (now Fluor-Daniel) where at age 31 he was a VP of Sales out of the mining and Metal Division in the Bay area. There he traveled 90% of the time to put mega project deals together.

GG also briefly worked in the Oil and Gas business in Houston. In 1982 joined Fluid Systems, a desalination membrane company located in San Diego and stayed on for 10 years in the membrane desalination business.

GG moved to Boston where he worked for Ionics learning the SWRO contracting, BOOT and management systems of a great entrepreneurial company. He traveled extensively doing desalination deals in Spain, the Canary Islands, England and Venezuela. GG was also in charge of starting-up the membrane racks in the 30,000 m3/day Santa Barbara emergency SWRO plant in 1992.

In the spring of 1993, GG was approached by Dick Heckman, Chairman of US Filter to become Sr. Vice President and Corporate officer of US Filter Corp., a Fortune 500, NYSE water Company where he drove a 25% division internal growth rate while simultaneously integrating an avalanche of multi-national acquisitions.

The business grew and by 1999, GG’s group was running 16 very profitable operating businesses in Mexico, the Caribbean and Latin America with some 660 employees.

In 1999 Vivendi bought US Filter for $7.5 Billion in cash. All of the USF stock options were cashed. GG spent 9 months after the acquisition “tucking his people in.” The parting feedback from colleague Andy Seidel was:

“GG, you have built the best water business in your segment, with creativity, risk taking and pure hard work. I have always respected your loyalty and good judgment.”

GG joined the ERI start-up on February 7, 2000 as a Marketing consultant and became CEO in 2002.

Personal
Like to Travel Sports: Hiking in any convenient mountain - most recently in California, New Zealand and the Dolomites

Memberships
International Desalination Association (IDA) – Board Member
American Membrane Technology Association (AMTA)
European Desalination Society (EDS)
International Water Association (IWA)
American Water Works Association (AWWA)