The Wilmington Group
Executive Leadership Team
Our Brands
Executive Leadership Team
The Wilmington Group
35 Waterview Blvd.
Suite 302
Wilmington Paper – The Program™
Recycling Management Resources
Royal Shredding
Stuart was named Chairman of the Board in January 2023. He first joined Wilmington Paper – The Program in 1978, six months after the business was founded by his father, Harvey, as a scrap business focusing on industrial packaging plants in the New York metropolitan area.
As the business of buying and selling scrap paper grew, Stuart developed a unique approach to maximizing revenue and efficiency in a converting facility, The Program. The Program has become a customized series of focus points, including a Waste Audit, and the creation of an Action Plan for each folding carton and converting plant, aiming to maximize revenue within the market for all grades of recyclables. While The Program has evolved, the principles Stuart conceived that are vital to the success of implementing The Program have stayed consistent: Management Commitment, Procedures, Marketing, and Controls.
Wilmington Paper first became a national company in 1986, when Stuart landed Federal Paperboard as a client and implemented The Program in the company’s eight folding carton plants. Today the Program is in place in over 300 facilities across North America and Europe.
Under Stuart’s leadership, what is now The WIlmington Group has continued to grow, creating Recycling Management Resources (10 Recycling plants), founding Green Logistics and adding Royal Shredding, as well as operating a successful scrap brokering and trading arm which works in all 48 contiguous states and around the world.
A third generation of Luries are now part of The Wilmington Group as Stuart’s sons, Brett (president), and Joshua (Data Analytics and Information), manage key parts of the business. Stuart and his wife Karen, also have a daughter, Erin, and six grandchildren.
Brett was named Chief Executive Officer in 2025. Brett has overseen a period of growth since assuming the role of President in 2021, expanding the company’s reach while growing the total tonnage of waste material moved by The Wilmington Group companies toward recycling.
He first joined Wilmington Paper – The Program full time in 2008 after spending his high school and college summers working at the company for his father, Stuart Lurie, and his grandfather, Harvey Lurie.
After joining Wilmington Paper, Brett worked closely with the leadership team to learn all aspects of the business operations. He traveled domestically and internationally with Stuart to all Wilmington Paper accounts for several years, learning the industry landscape before shifting into sales in 2011.
Brett developed new segments of the business that complemented the core functions of Wilmington Paper while having a positive impact on the bottom line. He leveraged the company’s existing network of industry relationships to establish a managed waste services and landfill diversion business. The brokerage and trading arm has been a natural evolution from Wilmington Paper’s experience and standing in the industry.
Brett has been part of the March of Dimes March for Babies Executive Leadership since 2020. Over the past three years, he has raised approximately $50,000, one of the leading individual fundraisers in the New York/New Jersey region.
Brett is a graduate of The Ohio State University. He resides in Florida with his wife, Paula, daughter, Ella, and son, Henry.
Marc Herdegen was named President of The Wilmington Group in 2025. Marc has more than 30 years of experience in leadership and management, product development, investment, and strategy consulting. Marc has led global organizations, launched new products, developed growth strategies, and advised executives across a range of industries.
A senior principal at New State Capital Partners, the parent company of The Wilmington Group, Marc recently held executive leadership positions with Defy Security, NWN Carousel and Honeywell International. At Honeywell, Marc was a Senior Director responsible for leading multiple product lines, with full P&L responsibility. As an enterprise General Manager, Marc had primary responsibility for developing and implementing strategies to drive revenue growth and operating income expansion for the flagship integrated avionics product lines in Honeywell’s Aerospace Strategic Business Group.
Previously, Marc was an executive at I-Group LLC, a private investment company and a consultant at Bain & Company. Marc started his career as an aviation officer in the United States Army, where he was an AH-64D Longbow Apache attack helicopter pilot, and aviation maintenance and logistics expert. Marc was awarded the Bronze Star and two Air Medals during his service as a Company Commander in Iraq.
Marc received his undergraduate degree in Economics from the United States Military Academy at West Point and earned an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School.
Brian Holtz started as the Chief Commercial Officer of The Wilmington Group in June 2024.
Brian is a waste and recycling industry veteran, having held numerous leadership roles during his career. With International Paper for 14 years, he held various management positions, including Business Manager, National Accounts.
Brian earned
a bachelor’s degree in environmental health and a master’s degree in business
administration from Illinois State University.
Christine focuses on all aspects of human resources, including talent acquisition and retention, employee relations, compensation and benefits, and organizational culture initiatives.
She previously served as a Director, Human Resources Business Partner for Covanta, and Director of Human Resources for RiverRoad Waste Solutions, which was rebranded Rubicon Global, during her tenure.
Christine, a graduate of Villanova and Pace University Law School, lives with her husband Bill, and their children, Alex, Liam and Victoria, in New Jersey.
Joshua joined Wilmington Paper – The Program™ full-time in 2014 after first learning the business in high school, and then from 2006-08, where he was immersed in logistics, account management and database/digital management. In 2025, he assumed the role as Director of Special Projects and Support, driving strategic initiatives and operational excellence across multiple projects. As a cross-functional operations leader and project manager, he works closely with all departments to ensure the seamless execution of critical initiatives aligned with the Executive Leadership Team’s strategic goals and objectives.
For four years he was the Head of Data Analytics and Information. He oversaw IT, human resources, community relations, special projects, employee education and communications, and quarterly supplier reporting.
Along with Brett Lurie, Josh leads The Wilmington Group’s fundraising efforts for the March of Dimes’ March for Babies as part of the MOD’s Executive Leadership Committee. The company has raised over $150,000 for March for Babies, one of the leading fundraising companies in the New York Metropolitan area.
Joshua received a Psychology degree from George Washington University and is fluent in American Sign Language. A lifelong fan of music and playing guitar, he has also recently taken those passions to fruition with the launch of independent record label Reasonable Man Records in 2023. Joshua and his wife, Erin, live in Denville, NJ with their four daughters.
Tom Owston was named Division President of Wilmington Paper – The Program™ in 2025. He joined The Wilmington Group from Rubicon, where he served as Chief Commercial Officer.
At Rubicon, Tom led Account Management, Customer Service, Sales, Sustainability, Vendor Management, Commodities, and Operations — overseeing an annualized $600M+ portfolio of waste and recycling services for some of the most recognized brands in North America.
Prior to Rubicon, Tom held roles at ADP and Mercatus, a renewable energy SaaS platform acquired by State Street, as well as Big Belly, a IOT trash compactor company. He brings over 15 years of experience in the environmental sector.
Tom holds an MBA from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School and a B.S. from Northeastern University, where he was a member of the Varsity Crew Team. He currently serves on the Northeastern University Rowing Board of Directors, supporting the development of future student-athletes.
Thomas Topp joined the company in September 2022 as the CFO of The Wilmington Group.
Thomas has extensive leadership experience, most recently as the CFO for Georgia-based, global manufacturer PolyVision and Innio Waukesha Engines. He spent 17 years at Heidelberg USA, a sales and service provider of prepress, press, post-press and digital printing equipment and software, as the Senior Vice President/CFO – Americas and the General Manager, Consumables Division, where he identified major business issues and implemented solutions to resolve rapid growth challenges.
Thomas has a Master’s degree from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Engineering, Business Administration and Finance.
Thomas is based in Duluth, GA, the corporate headquarters of Recycling Management Resources.