JOHN JENNINGS

FOUNDER & CHAIRMAN, WASTE PRO USA, LONGWOOD

How much does Jennings love waste collection? Enough to create a museum with more than 30 refurbished garbage trucks in Sanford. His first company, Jennings Environmental Services, became Central Florida’s largest private waste disposal company in the early 1990s. He founded Waste Pro USA in 2001, growing it to a $1.3-billion operation with 4,000 employees and more than 2 million residential customers in 11 Southeastern states. The son of an Irish immigrant who worked as a Long Island garbage man, Jennings earned a bachelor’s degree in management and an MBA in finance from St. John’s University. Jennings created a safety incentive program offering a $10,000 bonus to drivers who have no accidents or property damage for three years. It has paid out more than $8.5 million. In 2020, he handed the reins of the company to his son Sean Jennings.