Executive Forum with Aaron Johnson, Area Vice President-Great Lakes for Waste Management

The Executive Forum is open to the public, as seating permits, and provides opportunities for the exchange of ideas and discussion of topics and issues facing business and management.

As a fourth-generation garbage man, Aaron Johnson has not only made waste management a life-long priority, but a meaningful and impactful career. Johnson obtained his start early-on while being immersed in the various responsibilities of a family business started by his great-grandfather in Northwest Indiana. There he worked on the front lines - greasing rear-load trucks, changing tires, assisting drivers, and eventually became a driver himself.  In addition to working those facets of the family business, Johnson also worked in sales. In 2003, WM acquired Johnson’s family business, marking the beginning of his journey alongside the Waste Management family, just a few months after graduating from Purdue University.

At just 22 years old, Johnson became a District Manager for WM, managing sites such as LaPorte, Kokomo, and San Jose, California before coming back to the Midwest in 2006 as Waste Management’s Senior District Manager in Illinois. After seven years in the Chicago area, he became the Area Director of Collection Operations and later the Corporate Director of Operations for the Michigan/Ohio/Indiana area and Corporate Director of Operations for the Northern United States and all of Canada. Most recently, he spent the last three years as the Area Vice President of Eastern Canada before becoming the Area Vice President in the Great Lakes.

Aaron is married to his wife Megan, and has two children, Theodore and Louise.