diff --git a/postgres/Cargo.toml b/postgres/Cargo.toml
index 8ab2468f..96dd3120 100644
--- a/postgres/Cargo.toml
+++ b/postgres/Cargo.toml
@@ -32,9 +32,7 @@ with-uuid-0_8 = ["tokio-postgres/with-uuid-0_8"]
 bytes = "0.5"
 fallible-iterator = "0.2"
 futures = "0.3"
-pin-utils = "=0.1.0-alpha.4"
 tokio-postgres = { version = "=0.5.0-alpha.2", path = "../tokio-postgres", default-features = false }
-tokio-executor = "=0.2.0-alpha.6"
 
 tokio = { version = "0.2", optional = true, features = ["rt-threaded"] }
 lazy_static = { version = "1.0", optional = true }
diff --git a/postgres/src/config.rs b/postgres/src/config.rs
index df7bdbcc..34de68e4 100644
--- a/postgres/src/config.rs
+++ b/postgres/src/config.rs
@@ -2,21 +2,20 @@
 //!
 //! Requires the `runtime` Cargo feature (enabled by default).
 
-use futures::{FutureExt, executor};
+use crate::{Client, RUNTIME};
+use futures::{executor, FutureExt};
 use log::error;
 use std::fmt;
+use std::future::Future;
 use std::path::Path;
+use std::pin::Pin;
 use std::str::FromStr;
-use std::sync::{mpsc, Arc, Mutex};
+use std::sync::{mpsc, Arc};
 use std::time::Duration;
-use tokio_executor::Executor;
-use tokio_postgres::tls::{MakeTlsConnect, TlsConnect};
-use tokio_postgres::{Error, Socket};
-
 #[doc(inline)]
 pub use tokio_postgres::config::{ChannelBinding, SslMode, TargetSessionAttrs};
-
-use crate::{Client, RUNTIME};
+use tokio_postgres::tls::{MakeTlsConnect, TlsConnect};
+use tokio_postgres::{Error, Socket};
 
 /// Connection configuration.
 ///
@@ -94,8 +93,7 @@ use crate::{Client, RUNTIME};
 #[derive(Clone)]
 pub struct Config {
     config: tokio_postgres::Config,
-    // this is an option since we don't want to boot up our default runtime unless we're actually going to use it.
-    executor: Option<Arc<Mutex<dyn Executor + Send>>>,
+    spawner: Option<Arc<dyn Fn(Pin<Box<dyn Future<Output = ()> + Send>>) + Sync + Send>>,
 }
 
 impl fmt::Debug for Config {
@@ -117,7 +115,7 @@ impl Config {
     pub fn new() -> Config {
         Config {
             config: tokio_postgres::Config::new(),
-            executor: None,
+            spawner: None,
         }
     }
 
@@ -242,14 +240,14 @@ impl Config {
         self
     }
 
-    /// Sets the executor used to run the connection futures.
+    /// Sets the spawner used to run the connection futures.
     ///
     /// Defaults to a postgres-specific tokio `Runtime`.
-    pub fn executor<E>(&mut self, executor: E) -> &mut Config
+    pub fn spawner<F>(&mut self, spawn: F) -> &mut Config
     where
-        E: Executor + 'static + Send,
+        F: Fn(Pin<Box<dyn Future<Output = ()> + Send>>) + 'static + Sync + Send,
     {
-        self.executor = Some(Arc::new(Mutex::new(executor)));
+        self.spawner = Some(Arc::new(spawn));
         self
     }
 
@@ -261,22 +259,20 @@ impl Config {
         T::Stream: Send,
         <T::TlsConnect as TlsConnect<Socket>>::Future: Send,
     {
-        let (client, connection) = match &self.executor {
-            Some(executor) => {
+        let (client, connection) = match &self.spawner {
+            Some(spawn) => {
                 let (tx, rx) = mpsc::channel();
                 let config = self.config.clone();
                 let connect = async move {
                     let r = config.connect(tls).await;
                     let _ = tx.send(r);
                 };
-                executor.lock().unwrap().spawn(Box::pin(connect)).unwrap();
+                spawn(Box::pin(connect));
                 rx.recv().unwrap()?
             }
             None => {
                 let connect = self.config.connect(tls);
-                RUNTIME.handle().enter(|| {
-                    executor::block_on(connect)
-                })?
+                RUNTIME.handle().enter(|| executor::block_on(connect))?
             }
         };
 
@@ -285,13 +281,9 @@ impl Config {
                 error!("postgres connection error: {}", e)
             }
         });
-        match &self.executor {
-            Some(executor) => {
-                executor
-                    .lock()
-                    .unwrap()
-                    .spawn(Box::pin(connection))
-                    .unwrap();
+        match &self.spawner {
+            Some(spawn) => {
+                spawn(Box::pin(connection));
             }
             None => {
                 RUNTIME.spawn(connection);
@@ -314,7 +306,7 @@ impl From<tokio_postgres::Config> for Config {
     fn from(config: tokio_postgres::Config) -> Config {
         Config {
             config,
-            executor: None,
+            spawner: None,
         }
     }
 }