HOUSTON, Jan. 27, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ --

With substantial experience in developing relationships between businesses and customers, Grace Cowan has been hired by Waste Management (NYSE: WM) to serve as senior vice president of Customer Experience. Under this newly-created role, Cowan will:

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090219/WMLOGO)

• Make customer solutions a part of the company's everyday culture
• Create a strategy across the company to maximize customer acquisition and retention
• Deploy new technologies that make doing business with WM easier
• Develop protocols and performance metrics around WM's 26 call centers

Before joining Waste Management, Cowan worked at Conseco and Banker's Life Insurance, where she served as senior vice president of Customer Service and Operations. While there, she transformed the organization, significantly improving overall operations, financial results and the customer experience. Before then, she held various customer and financial-related roles with several companies, including: AON, MetLife, Chicago Health System and Blue Cross Blue Shield.

As a senior vice president, Cowan will serve as a member of the senior leadership team and be integral to executing the company's strategy.

"I am pleased to make this announcement, both for our employees and our customers," said David Steiner, president and CEO of Waste Management. "Grace comes to us with very substantive experience in making business better for customers, which is a strategic imperative for us."

"This is a great time to be with Waste Management," Cowan said. "I'm looking forward to executing on its customer-focused strategy to know and service its customers better than anyone else."

For more information about Waste Management, please visit www.wm.com. For a comprehensive overview of the company, please view the WM overview video.

ABOUT WASTE MANAGEMENT

Waste Management, Inc., based in Houston, Texas, is the leading provider of comprehensive waste management services in North America. Through its subsidiaries, the company provides collection, transfer, recycling and resource recovery, and disposal services. It is also a leading developer, operator and owner of waste-to-energy and landfill gas-to-energy facilities in the United States. The company's customers include residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal customers throughout North America. To learn more information about Waste Management visit www.wm.com or www.thinkgreen.com.

SOURCE Waste Management, Inc.