Pilko & Associates | Larry Curcio

"Eminent toxicologist, product
stewardship pioneer"

Larry Curcio

Position: Senior Advisor
Office: 1217 Salem Lane, Chapel Hill, NC 27516
Email: Lcurcio@pilko.com
Phone: 919-942-0408
Fax: 713-357-0990

Biography
“It doesn’t make sense to acquire a company whose products are going to be banned in a couple of years,” says Larry Curcio, “but you’d be surprised how easily something like that can slip through.” Larry is Pilko’s product stewardship expert. “It’s about creating safer products and managing them throughout the life cycle, from inception to disposal,” he says. “My goal is to help companies realize their production and monetary goals in a socially and environmentally responsible fashion.”

Larry grew up interested in both science and nature (one early ambition was to become a marine biologist), and in the intersection of humans and the environment. Majoring in Toxicology was a natural, and after his PhD, Larry worked for Ciba-Geigy Pharmaceuticals as a clinical toxicologist. A few years later he moved to Exxon, where he established the company’s first product stewardship program. He soon became the Exxon corporate guru and one of a handful of recognized experts in the country.

In 1992, Colgate-Palmolive lured Larry away from his job as Exxon Corporation’s Manager of Regulatory Toxicology and Government Affairs to become Colgate’s Global Director of EHS. Larry planned, built and executed a worldwide EHS program that provided management direction to more than 100 manufacturing facilities in 90+ countries.

In 1995, Larry jumped at the chance to move from New York City to Research Triangle Park in North Carolina (where he’d always wanted to live) to become President of the Nickel Producers Environmental Research Association, Inc. “We had a real issue with European governments that wanted to ban nickel and other metals,” he says. “We had to convince them that alloys were not only safe but beneficial. If you ban nickel, you eliminate stainless steel. You have to think before you act, and science does play a role.”

Larry has worked as a senior consultant for Pilko since 2003. His particular niche, in addition to management systems and EHS regulatory compliance, is product stewardship and fulfilling the requirements of TSCA (Toxic Substance Control Act). “The TSCA laws are extraordinarily complex,” he says, “and I especially enjoy helping companies who find themselves in a predicament.”

When not working with Pilko clients, Larry enjoys helping public school systems in the Carolinas with mold and air quality issues. And whenever he can break free, he indulges his passion for the marine world by going deep-sea fishing and hanging out at his house on the North Carolina shore. Larry and his wife have two daughters, both in college at UNC schools.

Pilko Projects

Larry has been intimately involved in numerous $100MM+ transaction projects, providing expertise on both the buyer and seller sides of the due-diligence process. He has also provided management guidance on auditing and governance activities. Some specific projects include:
Helped prevent acquisition of a doomed product line. Larry worked with a Pilko client that was planning to acquire a certain product line from a specialty chemical company. His investigation revealed that a key component of the product line was slated to be banned by the government within two years. The specialty chemical company denied that any such action would take place, but on our advice the buyer stepped away from the sale. The chemical was banned on schedule.
Helped a venture capital firm acquire the right companies, while avoiding trouble spots. This venture capital group was interested in acquiring five different chemical companies and asked Pilko to check them out. We first looked for “show-stoppers” and found none – all of the transactions appeared to be quite straight-forward, even “run of the mill.” Then Larry led the effort to look deeper and discovered that two of the five companies did not have the good enough management systems in place to ensure that their products were handled appropriately. While the products themselves were ok, they were being sold to anyone with the money to buy, leaving these two companies open to potential liability claims. Our client backed away from these deals and successfully bid for two of the three companies to which we gave a clean bill of health.
Helped uncover an unwitting Methamphetamine supplier. Our client was planning to acquire a chemical company that produced large quantities of ammonia. Since ammonia is a precursor in the production of methamphetamine, it is especially important to have a management system in place to ensure that none of this material is being siphoned off for illicit uses. As it turned out, the chemical company did not have a good system, and ammonia was being siphoned off via underground taps into the storage tanks. Our client walked away from this purchase, and the chemical company started working on a better system!
Assessed a US powdered-metal processor for an Indian company. In this $100-million deal, it was critical to ensure that there was little or no liability from metal processes contaminating soil or groundwater. Larry documented a very clean operation.
Developed product stewardship for a chemical client. This company needed such a program to retain its standing with ACC Responsible Care. Larry developed the management system, which is now being put in place.

Previous Experience

Executive management and strategic planning: Positions with Exxon (both the petroleum and chemical affiliates), Colgate-Palmolive, and Nickel Producers Environmental Research Association, Inc., as well as consulting assignments for multiple industrial, legal and governmental organizations. One of Larry’s jobs with Exxon involved strategic management of the company’s new pesticide marketing programs.
Toxicology: More than 4000 human and environmental health risk assessments on various pharmaceutical, petroleum, chemical and metal products, including conducting the Alaskan aquatic risk assessment and toxicological work that followed the Valdez Oil Spill, and preventing the European Union from banning certain metals. Larry is a recognized expert in TSCA, chairing the TSCA Reauthorization committee at ACC.
Expert witness: Expert and factual witness in trials, depositions, and discovery phases for approximately 200 separate toxic tort cases. Within the US, Larry has provided testimony and hearings before both the US EPA and OSHA, as well as numerous state agencies including TNRCC, PA DEP, NC DENR and NJ/NY DEQ.
Industry trade associations: Past Chair of numerous industry trade association panels at both the ACC, API, ad other specialty organizations.
Work with NGOs: Industry representative to major NGOs, including Environmental Defense Fund, National Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, National Wildlife Federation, and the Nature Conservancy. Larry has also worked at the local level as a credible interface between industries and the communities in which they operate.

Education and Certifications

PhD in Toxicology and Physiology from Rutgers University
Board Certified by the Academy of Environmental Professionals
Registered Environmental Manager