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Justin is president of Pennsylvania American Water, the largest investor-owned water utility in the state, providing high-quality and reliable water and wastewater services to approximately 2.3 million people. As the youngest of American Water’s state presidents, in this role, Ladner reinforces and strengthens customer, regulatory and local government relationships, drives the company’s operational and financial results, and leads the company in providing safe, clean, affordable and reliable water services to help keep customers’ lives flowing. Prior to this role, Ladner served as president of Illinois American Water from 2020 to 2022, where he led the company’s Illinois subsidiary serving approximately 1.3 million people. Ladner joined American Water in 2018 as director of National Regulatory Affairs, where he led utility regulatory strategy for the largest and most geographically diverse publicly traded water and wastewater utility company in the U.S. Before joining American Water, Ladner served in multiple roles at Southern Company, an energy utility company based in Atlanta. He also was an associate attorney for Huie, Fernambucq & Stewart in Birmingham, Ala. and worked for U.S. Steel as a metallurgical engineer. Ladner received his law degree, cum laude, from the University of Alabama School of Law, as well as master’s and bachelor’s degrees in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering with honors from the University of Alabama. Ladner currently serves on the boards of directors for the American Water Charitable Foundation, Central Pennsylvania Conservancy, Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, and Pittsburgh Works Together. He is an active member of YPO – the world’s largest leadership community of chief executives – and previously served as Chairman of the Illinois Utilities Business Diversity Council. He is a member of the 2024 Class of Henry Crown Fellows within the Aspen Global Leadership Network at the Aspen Institute.
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