Industry & Services >> CEO Interviews >> January 15, 2001
DR. ANDREW BENEDEK, Chairman and CEO of ZENON Environmental, Inc.,
received his engineering degree (chemical) from McGill University,
Montreal, in 1966. By 1970, he obtained a PhD in Chemical Engineering,
from the University of Washington, Seattle, with a focus on wastewater
treatment. He then accepted a professorship at McMaster University,
Hamilton, where he taught and conducted research to find ways of
improving water quality. In 1978, he coordinated the internationally
recognized Wastewater Research Group, an organization known for its
excellence in research in the field of water treatment technologies.
Recognizing that overuse and contamination seriously threatened the
world's water sources, Dr. Benedek founded ZENON Environmental Inc., a
company dedicated to solving water quality problems through the use of
advanced membrane technologies. ZENON Environmental Inc. was formed on
his vision of a world where cost effective membrane technology could
ensure humanity's survival, with safe and superior quality water. Dr.
Benedek was among the first to believe that membrane technology would
one day become a practical way to treat water; many did not hold his
view. Dr. Benedek has served on many public boards such as the National
Research Council of Canada, the Biotechnology Research Institute and the
Conference Board of Canada. Noted as a leading authority on global water
related issues, he has written over 100 scientific papers on water
treatment and lectured extensively as keynote speaker to learned
societies. Profile
Environmental?
Dr. Benedek: The company was founded 20 years ago with the purpose of
using membranes to solve the expected water
