Author Archives: thewaterentrepreneur

Ernie Harker

Ernie Harker is an illustrator, author, consultant, and keynote speaker who helps his clients build world-class brands using a powerful but simple framework. 

Career Highlights:

• 1993-1995 Storyboard artist and designer for Ad Agency servicing Intel, Iomega, Novell, Netscape, Ask Jeeves, and other tech clients.
• 1995- Started creative production studio; Ernburn Communications
• 2001- rebranded regional c-store company from Country-Store to Adventure’s First Stop
• Produced TV series, animated DVD series, wrote how to draw books- “Making Faces” and “Monster Factory,” a children’s book “They’re Waiting For Me,” and a YouTube channel called “Sketch-e” that teaches kids how to draw.
• 2010-2018 Exec Director of Marketing for convenience store business- increased business value 600% to a multi billion dollar company.
• 2018- Wrote “Your Brand Sucks- How to ignite a brand that doesn’t”
• Currently consults and speaks on branding and business leadership strategies.

Process

Ernie has developed a process that helps business owners and brand managers create a killer brand strategy. The four steps are easier to remember when using the acronym: F.I.R.E. 

• Find your brand Spark- The most unique and compelling point of difference.
• Identify your target customers- Who is most likely to care about your brand spark.
• Realize your core belief. Why do you serve the industry you serve?
• Establish your brand adjectives. These adjectives are used to help curate the brand assets (fonts, colors, imagery, language, and tone) for your marketing materials in a way that reinforces your brand strategy.

Download Ernie’s book.

Check out his website for more info!

Jessie Mahr

Jessie is the Director of Technology at EPIC. Prior to joining EPIC, she led business development and strategy for Upstream Tech, a technology start-up that uses satellite imagery to monitor and evaluate natural resources. She has also worked on programs related to regional planning for wetlands restoration and urban climate change resilience for the Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration and Stantec. Jessie holds a Master of Science in Water Resource Engineering and Environmental Policy from Tufts University and a Bachelor of Arts in Geography from The University of Texas.

Chris Desai

Chrisna Jagdish Desai, known in the industry as ‘Chris Desai’ was born to a working class
family in Leicester, United Kingdom in the year 1988, to an English Mother and a Political
Refuge, Ugandan Indian / Gujarati Father. He grew up in a multicultural working-class home being exposed to the Eastern and Western culture from a very young age in his home city of Leicester. Fascinated by the natural world and exploration, he went against the grain of being studious and quickly excelled at everything outdoors, such as running, athletics, flying and sailing and was determined to explore the entire planet in his lifetime. His creative talents also
developed in these early years including literature, poetry and spoken word which was
nurtured by his mother. Through the amalgamation of these interests and cultural experiences, he began producing music and writing songs at the age of 14 about his adventures and views on life, by the age of 21 he became an industry-known recording artist and found himself signed to a major record label in London. Shortly after his music career began, he also entered the apparel world and developed a love for high fashion and couture which flourished over the next decade. After a highly successful decade in the music and fashion industry, he realized the damage that fashion was causing the planet, this was realized on a sailing trip he embarked on which lasted over 3000 miles.
When returning to land, he created an organic sustainable and ethical fashion apparel brand
called Vayyu, which would re-invent sustainable and organic fashion. Vayyu was awarded the second most ethical brand in the United Kingdom, and taking its
designs and inspiration from meditation and the esoteric knowledge that is found within.
Chris then established its own registered environmental charity called The Vayyu
Foundation, which operated The UOcean Project, the project rapidly spread across the
planet in its first 2 years and now has over 50 chapters globally and a mission statement to
remove #1BILLIONKILOS of marine/ocean plastic by 2030.

UOCEAN® 2050 represents a pioneering and practical approach to tackling
the urgent global issue of ocean plastics. As a non-profit charitable grassroots
organization, our mission is to eliminate ocean plastics on a global scale.
Through collaborative efforts with partners from various sectors, including
volunteers, individuals, communities, governments, schools, universities, and
the private sector, we aim to forge a circular economy of sustainable
behaviors that support the removal of ocean and river plastics from canals,
rivers, beaches, and the open ocean. At the core of our mission, we are
committed to establishing agents of change globally.
We recognize that the fight against ocean plastics is not just an environmental
issue but a social equity issue. That is why we are also dedicated to
empowering underprivileged and isolated ethnic minority communities to thrive
in conservation.
In addition to our cleanup efforts, we deploy educational toolkits in academic
institutions, bridging the gaps that are leading to climate change. We also
advocate for stricter laws on plastics, their disposal, and global protection of
our oceans. We welcome collaboration with individuals and organizations who
share our passion for preserving the environment and promoting social equity.
At UOCEAN® 2050, we are committed to creating a more sustainable future
for all.

Bessie Schwarz

At the nexus of big data & citizen empowerment l CEO & Co-founder of Floodbase l Strategist, Yale Program on Climate Change Communication | Echoing Green Climate Fellow

Bessie Schwarz is the CEO and Co-founder of Floodbase. As Co-Founder, Bessie has helped build the most actionable, advanced, and cost-effective flood data platform on the market for insurers and the public sector. Prior to founding Floodbase, she earned a Masters of Science from Yale University and founded the consulting arm of the Yale Program on Climate Change Communications. In 2022, she was named to Business Insider’s list of 30 Top Climate Leaders.

Since its founding, Floodbase has pioneered the field of satellite flood tracking, with our science appearing on the cover of Nature in 2021. Our Flood Intelligence Platform has enabled the United Nations and several national governments to improve flood disaster response. We are now powering a new type of flood insurance to help flood-vulnerable communities around the world access financial support and adapt in the face of increasing climate disasters.

To learn more about Floodbase, please visit https://www.floodbase.com/

Bruno Tume and Fareed Nazaryfar

Bruno Tume. (Sales manager at ASTERRA) is a self-starting and results-driven leader with expertise in inside sales, outside sales, and account management. He is experienced in driving the full sales cycle and sales strategies across diverse markets. His additional experience includes selling over the phone, virtually, and face to face to C-level executives.

Fareed Nazaryfar (Costumer Success Manager at ASTERRA) has a combination of over 7 years of experience in the Environmental & Environmental/Tech sector ranging from the wastewater pretreatment sector, the indoor air quality sector and most recently the earth observation Tech sector. His foundation in the environmental domain started with a master’s degree in Environmental and Petroleum Geochemistry (MS) from Newcastle University, United Kingdom. He also completed a master’s degree in Psychology (MS) from the University of Leicester, United Kingdom.

To learn more about ASTERRA (one of the Water Entrepreneur Podcast sponsors),please visit asterra.io

James Workman

James Workman (Founder of AquaShares Inc.)

* Graduated Yale, studied abroad Oxford. Prize-winning investigative reporter in Washington, DC.
* White House appointee to US Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt on water, dams, climate, wildfire.
* Senior advisor, communications, World Commission on Dams under Nelson Mandela.
* Strategic communications consultant to global corporations, agencies, NGOs on natural resources.
* Award-winning author of books, articles on successful water, fisheries, energy conservation strategies.
* Established new, interdisciplinary courses as visiting professor Whitman, Wesleyan.
* Framed marine conservation projects and program at Environmental Defense Fund.
* Editor, The Source, print & online magazine offering pragmatic news for 50,000 water professionals.
* Founded AquaShares, first rights-based online conservation market to trade water-saving credits.

Jamie is responsible for developing and adapting AquaShares’ assets to meet demands from our public, non-profit, and private clients. He draws on three decades of experience as an investigative journalist, White House-appointed speechwriter, award-winning author of several books, senior communications advisor under Nelson Mandela’s World Commission on Dams, and program director focused on natural resource conservation markets for water, wildlife, forests, and fish. He graduated with honors from Yale, studied two terms at Oxford, and was visiting professor at Wesleyan and Whitman colleges. But he earned his real education by blowing up dams, releasing wolves, igniting wildland fires, guiding safaris, smuggling water, and becoming a father.

To learn more about AquarShares Inc. please visit aquashares.com.

Josh Mackanic

Josh Mackanic (CEO and Founder of Civil Grid) is a construction tech founder and infrastructure industry expert. Josh is experienced in organizing and leading multidisciplinary teams to implement large capital infrastructure programs and change initiatives. At PG&E, he developed solar power plants on the largest utility owned solar program in the nation, successfully led the integration of safety automation technology new to natural gas utilities, and led lean transformation effort realizing material operational cost efficiencies within back office utility functions, regulatory filings, and process improvement.

About CivilGrid:

CivilGrid is a construction intelligence platform combining layers of utility, environmental, and geotechnical project site data. We aggregate and curate datasets that developers, engineers, and construction companies need to make critical planning and project implementation decisions. CivilGrid accelerates project due diligence, reduces utility research and
project engineering cost, and improves risk identification and construction planning.

To learn more, please visit https://www.civilgrid.com/

Eric Hoek

Eric Hoek is a professor in UCLA’s Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Institute of the Environment & Sustainability and the California NanoSystems Institute. Dr. Hoek is also Faculty Director of the UCLA Sustainable LA Grand Challenge, which is a campus wide initiative and partnership with the City of Los Angeles to help LA become the world’s most sustainable megacity by 2050.

Dr. Hoek’s academic work explores the union of nanomaterials, membrane technology and electrochemistry for water, energy and environmental applications – all keys to a more sustainable future. Dr. Hoek has advised over 50 graduate students, published over 110 peer-reviewed scientific publications and filed over 70 patents filed globally. He has written books on Sustainable Desalination & Water Reuse, Oil & Gas Produced Water Management and is co-editor in chief of The Encyclopedia of Membrane Science. He is the founding and current editor-in-chief of npj Clean Water and a former associate editor of Desalination.

Dr. Hoek has also applied this knowledge as an entrepreneur having co-invented/founded several technology companies (e.g., NanoH2O, Water Planet, PolyCera, IntelliFlux) and as a consultant having advised various government agencies, technology companies, investment funds and law firms. Dr. Hoek has a Ph.D. from Yale University, M.S. from UCLA, B.S. from Penn State.

Alex Rappaport

Alex Rappaport CEO & Co-Founder at ZwitterCo, Inc.; Forbes 30 under 30

Alex Rappaport, who studied environmental engineering and entrepreneurship at Tufts, is similarly focused on the environmental impact of production. He cofounded ZwitterCo to take advantage of breakthrough advances in filtration to help companies take more harmful stuff out of their wastewater. ZwitterCo’s membranes can process fats, oils, and grease, and still last for years. The company has raised $44 million in venture funding (deep tech firm DCVC led its Series A) and expects to have more than 1 million gallons of wastewater treatment capacity set up by year-end.

To learn more about ZwitterCo, please visit https://zwitterco.com/.

Emily Hicks

Emily Hicks (President & Co-Founder of FREDsense) is a motivated technology entrepreneur experienced in managing large teams and delivering complex products. Emily is a graduate from the University of Calgary with a degree in Biomedical Science. Winner of multiple awards, including being named as one of Corporate Knight’s top 30 under 30, the winner of the She Loves Tech Global Finals and being recognized as one of Real Leader’s 100 young global leaders. Emily is an avid volunteer, giving back to professional organizations and inspiring the next generation of engineering and scientific leaders through STEM programs. Emily has successfully developed and deployed biotechnology products in the field and leads the Product and Operations team at FREDsense.

To learn more about Emily and her team, please visit fredsense.com.

Ashwin Madgavkar

Ashwin Madgavkar is the Founder and CEO of Ceres Imaging. He grew up in Texas and early in his career worked as an electrical engineer and strategy consultant, primarily in the energy industry.

In 2012, while working for a leading Brazilian sugarcane ethanol producer, Ash saw that large-scale agriculture operations often still make blanket decisions in areas like fertilizer and pesticide use, leading to waste, productivity losses, and environmental damage. In surveying an agribusiness opportunity in Colombia, he saw further evidence of a need in the industry for advanced data sources.

A solution to those problems began to take shape for Madgavkar in his time at Stanford, where he earned an MBA and took earth sciences classes that related to his engineering interests.

He learned about phenomenal advances in spectral imaging that Stanford researchers were applying to study Amazonian tree species and microclimates.  Why couldn’t that advanced technology be applied to help farmers improve their yields, while saving water in drought-prone areas like California?

Madgavkar founded Ceres in 2013 and recruited a talented core team of scientists to develop the hardware, software, and know-how that has made the company fast-growing and well-loved by customers.

Greg Newbloom

Greg Newbloom believes that if sustainability was simple, cheap & low-risk – it would be irresistible. Greg states that”Multi-dimensional innovation across technology, services, policy & business models is the path to frictionless & broad adoption of sustainable best practices, but even so we’re not moving fast enough to correct the past.” That’s why Greg is passionate about accelerating innovation towards irresistible sustainability.

Mr. Newbloom’s background blends technology development (10+ years), entrepreneurship (10+ years) and management (7+ years) with an emphasis on bringing together counter-intuitive innovations to deliver extraordinary value (financial & sustainable). He is an action-oriented believer in building diverse teams, fostering a people-first culture, and enhancing idea meritocracy. Greg’s efforts have been recognized with numerous awards including prestigious alumni awards from both his alma maters, professional society early career recognition, and national/regional innovator awards.

Most recently, Greg had the privilege of building Membrion – a company focused on recovering water from “impossible” waste sources. In 6 short years, he founded the company, raised >$10M & built a diverse 20+ person team that invented, scaled & commercialized a world-changing technology. Learn more about Membrion here: Membrion.com

Matt Hurley

Matt Hurley is the GM at McMullin Area Groundwater Sustainability Agency. Hurley leads MAGSA in the development, adoption, and implementation of a Groundwater Sustainability Plan for the sustainable management of groundwater within the MAGSA service area.

As CEO of Water Management Professionals, Inc, Hurley has extensive SGMA knowledge and background having been heavily involved at the State and local levels with the development of the regulations and implementation of SGMA. He served on the Department of Water Resources SGMA Practitioner’s Advisory Panel and the Association of California Water Agencies SGMA Task Force. “I am grateful to the Board for putting their trust in me as the new general manager of MAGSA. I will bring all the energy and expertise I have to implement SGMA for the best possible outcome for the landowners and communities served by MAGSA,” stated Hurley.

As a licensed attorney, Hurley is fully versed in water law, especially groundwater, in the State of California along with having broad experience in water resource and special district management. In addition to his role as General Manager of Angiola Water District, Deer Creek Storm Water District, and Green Valley Water District for the last ten years, Hurley organized and managed the Tri-County Water Authority GSA in the Tulare Lake Subbasin since 2016. He also served as Board Chair for several local water agencies including the Fresno Slough Water District, Atwell Island Water District, and the Tri-County Water Authority GSA. “Groundwater availability is essential for businesses, farms, and residents to thrive in the McMullin Area. Hurley has the experience and knowledge to navigate MAGSA through the challenges of implementing the State’s new groundwater regulations while minimizing the impacts to our local economy,” stated MAGSA Board Chair Don Cameron.

Sol Rosenbaum

Sol Rosenbaum is a Licensed PE with 19+ years in the energy engineering world. He is the Founder of http://www.TheEngineeringMentor.com with a passion for mentoring younger engineers.
He is a mechanical/energy engineer who enjoys helping building owners with financially viable energy savings projects. In Sol’s early positions, he worked on large ESPC projects where his tasks included climbing through mechanical rooms & calculating/designing the systems, construction/project management, and through the M & V phase. Since then, he has moved towards the management side of things, but still maintains a strong foothold on the technical side by providing oversight and general guidance to the engineering team. Currently, as Director, Green & Energy Services, he is involved in both technical work overseeing & guiding the engineering team as well as business & marketing to increase the revenue stream from this department. My firm, GRS Group provides due diligence transactional services related to the mortgage finance/CRE world.

Sol believes in helping out the next generation of engineers. Please check out his work and services here: www.TheEngineeringMentor.com

Jon McClean

Dr. Jon McClean has worked in the field of water treatment since 1986. He is recognized as an expert in the field of Ultra Violet disinfection and has a particular interest in Advanced Oxidation Processes. He won the Queen’s Award in 2001 for innovation in UV light that now forms an integral part of state-of-the-art AOP systems and has been awarded several patents. He sold his business in 2016, which is now part of Evoqua Water Technologies. Dr. McClean currently has responsibility for technology and innovation across Evoqua Water Technologies. Evoqua is a $1.5B provider of water and wastewater solutions that Transform Water and Enrich Lives.

Dr. McClean received his undergraduate degree in Physics from Imperial College, London and his MBA from Henley Management College and Instead, Paris. He received his Doctoral Degree from Xavier University, Cincinnati. His Ph.D Dissertation subject was the moderating effect that self-awareness has on the relationship between personality and Transformational Leadership.

Xylem Inc., a leading global water technology company, and Evoqua, a leader in mission-critical water treatment solutions and services, announced in January 2023 that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Xylem will acquire Evoqua in an all-stock transaction that reflects an implied enterprise value of approximately $7.5 billion.

Congratulations to Jon and his team on the acquisition.

George Demosthenous 

George Demosthenous is the CEO of VODA.ai – an award-winning, software company, powered by artificial intelligence and focused on risk modeling. George co-founded VODA.ai in 2017 to help utilities leverage their data to assess risk and make infrastructure decisions quicker and with improved accuracy. Prior to VODA.ai, George worked at a public company, helping utilities manage their assets and lower NRW.

How was VODA.ai founded?

George Demosthenous worked in the water industry for years, and often heard his utility friends complain by the amount of pipe failures they had to deal with. They shared their frustration over bad press and felt that planning was time-consuming and complicated.

While George was working on a master’s degree at Harvard, he took an innovation course from Jim Fitchett. Jim had previously run a company that used advanced technology to predict the health of people. They found patterns that led to health events and then applied those patterns to groups of people, predicting the likelihood of diabetic complications, cardiac episodes, and other avoidable events.

Over coffee one day, George told Jim about the problem of poor health of water pipes. A lightbulb went off in Jim’s head. If the health of people could be predicted, why not water pipe health as well? Soon after, they founded VODA.ai to help water professionals plan more effectively, easier, and faster – way faster.

To learn more about VODA, please visit https://voda.ai/.

Greg Quist and David Drake

Greg Quist is one of the original inventors and co-founder of SmartCover. He served as President & CEO of SmartCover since founding for over 16 years. A long-time member of the water community, Greg was elected to the Rincon del Diablo Municipal Water District Board of Directors in 1990, where he has served for the past 32 years in various roles including President, Vice President, and Treasurer. Rincon’s Board appointed Greg to the San Diego County Water Authority Board in 1996 for 12 years where he led a coalition of eleven agencies to achieve more than $1M per year in water delivery savings. With a background in the areas of metamaterials, numerical analysis, signal processing, pattern recognition, wireless communications, and system integration, Greg has worked as a technologist, manager and executive at Alcoa, McDonnell-Douglas, and SAIC and has founded and successfully spun off several high technology start-up companies, primarily in real-time detection and water technology. He holds 17 patents with several pending. Greg earned his undergraduate degree in astrophysics with a minor in economics from Yale College where he played football and baseball. He earned a Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has held top-level government clearances and is Chairman Emeritus of the Urban Water Institute.

David Drake has served in engineering and management roles since 1974. He was a Member of the Technical Staff at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Manager of Engineering at Oak Industries, Software Unit Manager at Digital Equipment Corporation, CIO and VP at Mitchell International, Internet Service Architect at SAIC, and Co-founder and Enterprise Architect of SmartCover Systems in Escondido, CA. He holds 14 US and five foreign patents. He won a First Place Design Award from the Electrical Engineering Times. He is active in the AWWA, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He is a past Chair of the Escondido Planning Commission and served as the City of Escondido’s representative to the San Diego County Water Authority, where he was a member of the Administrative/Finance and Engineering committees. He graduated from Caltech in Electrical Engineering and is a Life Member of the Caltech Alumni Association. In 2017 he was named  a Life Member of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and was awarded his Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering from USC. In 2020, he was named as the Industry Icon of Water and Wastes Digest.

To learn more about Smart Cover, please visit https://smartcoversystems.com/

Adam Tank

Colleagues have described Adam as their “trusted ‘go-to” when they need a leader to step into complex situations, rapidly identify the moving parts, develop sound business strategies, and execute to completion.

Adam has developed skill sets in negotiations, open innovation, financing, and P&L management over a 10+ year career in Fortune 100 companies, international small businesses, and venture capital-backed technology start-ups.

Some of Adam’s challenging but fulfilling accomplishments have been:

• Leading the Digital Water division at General Electric, developing new IoT products and services for water utilities in addition to spearheading their venture capital efforts
• Graduating from GE’s Experienced Commercial Leadership Program (ECLP)
• Founding a venture capital-backed startup developing breakthrough robotic technologies, acquired less than three years later by a publicly traded company.
• Living in Brazil as an expatriate and developing innovative strategies to grow a small CPG business

One constant in Adam’s career has been teamwork – that success simply is not possible without the cooperation of multiple stakeholders. He is fully dedicated to leading teams of individuals to success – enabling them and getting out of their way. He most recently built a team of talented engineers developing robotic technology to save our water infrastructure. Adam is also passionate about non-profit work and volunteers as a mentor with Defy Ventures – a non-profit aiming to end mass incarceration through entrepreneurial and life-skills coaching for currently and formerly incarcerated men and women.

If you’d like to learn more about Adam and his work and connect, please visit his personal website: www.adamtank.com

Austin Meyermann

Austin Meyermann is the founder and current President of Hunter Crown, LLC a consultative, boutique executive search firm dedicated to placing top talent with world-class companies. Clients include portfolio companies of Kleiner Perkins, Khosla Ventures, XPV Capital, Element Partners, SAIL Capital, and True North Venture Partners.

Austin is also the CEO of TalentCMO, LLC. TalentCMO is HR’s recruitment marketing partner and its mission is to develop and deliver a continuous pipeline of top talent to clients through the application of process-driven technical marketing strategies. We help our clients to tell their stories through the development and projection of the employer brand. We drive engagement through social, content, and email marketing. Importantly, we cultivate and engage with talent communities pre-demand, because on-demand is already too late in the talent market of today.

To learn more about Hunter Crown and its services, please visit https://www.huntercrown.com/

David Solomon

David Solomon – Founder & CTO of Aquarius Spectrum

David Solomon is a Serial Entrepreneur and technology leader in the field of Big Data analysis, IOT, Machine Learning, signal processing, and acoustics. David has over 25 years of experience in research and development in the military, medical and water industries. Formerly founder and CEO of EndoRhythm ltd and COO of WideMed ltd. David holds a BSc and MSc degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Technion-Haifa. https://www.linkedin.com/in/david1solomon/

Aquarius Spectrum provides acoustic solutions that enable water utilities to proactively monitor their distribution pipe network, solve infrastructure issues, detect background leaks, reduce NRW and operational costs and assess the pipes’ condition. These solutions combine sensitive sensors powered by sophisticated algorithms, big data analysis, and advanced connectivity (CAT-M/NB-IoT). By using our most innovative water network monitoring platform that enables accurate pinpointing of leaks and identification of poor pipe sections for renewal – water utilities improve the resiliency of their new and aging water network infrastructure. To learn more, please visit: https://aqs-systems.com/

Jack Hartpence 

Jack Hartpence serves as a Co-Founder of PowWater. After a near-death car accident in 2017, he recognized that the purpose of life is to help others and this world we call home. Jack and his team started PowWater to provide as many people as possible with access to water, the foundation for quality of life on earth today.

PowWater currently works in close partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and has brought sustainable clean water to over 200,000 people across East Africa and South Asia. In 2021, PowWater was inducted into the Business Call to Action, a UNDP consortium of the top 250 businesses in the world tackling the SDG’s. I have been featured as a panelist on Youth, Technology, and Social Entrepreneurship at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, in Nairobi at the East Africa Social Business Summit, as well as in Dhaka at Nobel Peace Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus’ social business incubator, YY Ventures.

To learn more about PowWater, please visit https://www.powwater.com/

Yousef Yousef

Yousef Yousef is an innovator at heart with an entrepreneurial mindset. From developing original technological solutions that are environment-friendly to setting up new businesses and coaching innovative startups into becoming scale-ups. His passion lies with the green scale-ups. Yousef is a proud CEO of LG Sonic, which is a leading example of what a green innovative SME can achieve.

LG Sonic’s mission is to fight environmental pollution and eliminate harmful chemicals in the water treatment industry. They invest in the design and development of innovative technologies to monitor and control algal blooms, a major environmental problem that degrades water quality and its ecosystem. With nearly 10 years of experience, we serve 12 different industries in over 55 countries. LG Sonic’s technology has won multiple awards including Coordinator of several European FP7 projects, Official Innovation Partner of American Water, Aquatech Innovation Award (2015), and Shell LiveWIRE Award (2014).

To learn more about LG Sonic, please visit https://www.lgsonic.com/

Eric Schwartz

Career trajectory: After receiving his undergraduate degree in mathematics and Ph.D. in marketing from the University of Pennsylvania in 2008 and 2013, respectively, Schwartz packed his bags and moved west to Ann Arbor, where he was an assistant professor of marketing from 2013 to 2020 and then became a tenured associate professor last year. After working in Flint with U-M students on lead issues in the water system, Blue Conduit — an AI startup that helps identify lead pipes — was officially founded in 2019. It has done work in Flint, Detroit, Benton Harbor and Toledo.

Proudest achievement: Developing Blue Conduit, which has received grant funding from Google.org, the California-based Internet giant’s charitable arm; Troy-based The Kresge Foundation; and the New York City-based Rockefeller Foundation. Schwartz said Blue Conduit is expanding to “dozens of other cities” beyond Flint. The company has grown from no revenue and one employee in 2019 to just shy of $1 million in revenue this year and more than a dozen full-time employees, Schwartz said.

What’s next: Getting Blue Conduit “in the hands of as many communities as possible,” Schwartz said. A second goal is developing a second line of business applying AI to other public health issues, such as tracking legionella bacteria in water, for example.

Words of wisdom: “When you get that burning gut feeling that you should be doing something that you’re not doing yet, you probably should do it,” Schwartz said.

Seyi Fabode

Seyi Fabode has been at the forefront of product management, technology adoption, and strategy within the utility industry as an analyst, operator, consultant, and company founder. His education spans metallurgical and materials engineering, system manufacturing, and strategic management. He has been recognized as a LinkedIn Top Voice in Technology in 2016 and 2017. Seyi is the author of ‘Antifragile Grid’, ‘Advancing Technology and the Utility Industry’ and ’40 Semi-Obvious (Startup) Lessons’.

Seyi is the founder and CEO of Varuna Tech Inc, which is the leading water distribution system monitoring company providing real-time visibility, awareness, and insights into water utilities. The company helps water utilities become more efficient, reduce operational costs, and make better financial decisions by deploying a network of sensors and cloud-based software. Varuna is backed by leading investors and has participated in the Urban-X Program backed by BMW-Mini as well as the prestigious Imagine H2O Accelerator.

To learn more about Seyi and his company please visit http://www.varunaiot.com

Cynthia C Baughman

Cynthia Baughman grew up in California’s Silicon Valley and started programming in high school. After developing an interest in technology, she pursued a Bachelor of Science from San Jose State University in Business – Information Systems and a minor in Cybernetic Systems. She holds several certifications, including NIMS, Business Continuity Planning, Project Management, and Business Relationship Management.

Cynthia is a strategic technology leader with 35 years of experience working in all aspects of IT and innovation. She has worked for the City of Garland, TX, for 25 years, previously serving as the IT Network Services Manager; as an IT Business Relationship Manager; and she currently serves as the Water Utilities Technology Director, overseeing technology and system operations. She joined the Water Utilities division in 2014 to lead the cultural change and implementation of their asset management system. Cynthia and her team support all Water Utilities technologies from GIS and asset management, to SCADA and Cybersecurity. She also serves as the Logistics Section Chief in the City’s Emergency Operations Center.

Cynthia considers herself a life-long learner and loves to share her lessons learned with others. As a member of Women in Technology, Women in Cybersecurity, and the Alliance of Technology and Women, she helps to promote STEM careers to children and teens. She speaks on a variety of topics including asset management, project lessons learned and best practices, crisis communications, and cybersecurity.

Anthea Sargeaunt

Anthea Sargeaunt is CEO of 2S Water, where they have developed the world’s first sensor for detecting metals in water in real time. She has an MBA, is a 3x entrepreneur, and a mother of two. Anthea received the Clean50 2021 for her research and development work. She was voted Startup Alberta’s Most Promising Startup Entrepreneur 2019, and her company has been awarded the Covergx Precommercialization award for the best new technology with applications in industry and defense and was selected by Famae as one of the top 100 best water innovations worldwide.

Mark Lambert

Mark Lambert is a senior executive with extensive experience in the Water and Environmental industries and has a strong track record of success in the management of successful organizations. Mr. Lambert has held various senior management positions in the Water Industry including IDE Americas, American Water, U.S. Filter Corporation, Culligan and Imperial Chemical Industries. He is a managing partner at WaterMark Resource Development, which is a project development firm focused on developing, building, and managing water infrastructure and related assets in California and the Southwestern U.S.

Mr. Lambert is actively involved in the water industry community. He serves as an Imagine H2O mentor. He also serves as an advisor to Oneka Technologies; developer of zero energy ocean water desalination systems. Mark is also an advisor to Olympus Capital and Prodos Capital. Lambert has been previously an active member of the international Desalination Association (IDA), American Water Works Association (AWWA), and Water Quality Association (WQA) and has served on several AWWA and WQA steering committees including the Point of Use committee and was a founding member of the WQA World Assembly.

To learn more about WaterMark Resource Development, Inc, please visit https://www.watermarkrd.com/team-strategic-partners.

Julie Bliss Mullen

Julie Bliss Mullen co-founded Aclarity to sustainably and cost-effectively clean
the world’s most challenging waters. Julie invented Aclarity’s primary technology
as a PhD Candidate at UMass Amherst where she studied innovative water
treatment technologies. Previously, she worked at the US EPA’s Drinking Water
Unit in Region 1 in engineering and policy development. Julie holds degrees in
Environmental Engineering and Environmental & Sustainability Studies from
Worcester Polytechnic Institute. She has been recognized as a 2019 Forbes 30
Under 30 recipient in Science, 2019 Lemelson-MIT Award recipient, and 2018
Innovator of the Year by NEWIN/NEWEA. Her most rewarding role yet is being a
mom.

To learn more about Aclarity, please visit https://www.aclaritywater.com/

Megan Glover

In Episode 9 of The Water Entrepreneur podcast, Megan Glover talks about the impact of winning the Imagine H2O Accelerator competition and how it validated her vision and her company.

Megan Glover is a successful B2B Software Marketing and Sales Executive that saw an incredible need to improve our nation’s lead in drinking water programs that protect public health. She became the proud CoFounder & CEO of 120Water.

120Water launched it’s first product, a lab-certified consumer test kit, in May 2016. Since then the company has developed and deployed Enterprise cloud software and additional kits that help Government Agencies, Public Water Systems and Facilities (such as School Districts & Daycares) execute lead in drinking water programs. 120Waters software has been deployed to manage over 150,000 locations, across 12 states that impact over 3.4M lives.

To learn more about 120Water, please visit https://120water.com.

Jose Ignacio Galindo

In Episode 8, Paul and Jose Galindo discuss how national football clubs and company founders have unique cultural traits based on history and experiences.

Jose Ignacio Galindo has a Masters in Engineering from the Technology Institute of Buenos Aires. Jose worked as a Google Ambassador and as Chief Sales officer of Wolox. Jose has founded two companies. He is currently the co-founder and CEO of Waterplan (YC S21).

Jose was a speaker and delegate in several international business and entrepreneurship conferences in Europe, USA, and Asia and is now part fo the Board (Learning co-chair) of the argentine Chapter of Entrepreneurs Organization, the most prominent global network exclusively for Entrepreneurs. He is also a Global Shaper from the World Economic Forum, a network of inspiring young people under the age of 30 working together to address local, regional, and global challenges.

Jose Ignacio is an avid learner and passionate about purpose-driven entrepreneurship, growing businesses, and social causes. Herolens was one of the first 100 Argentine companies to be certified as a B company, a new kind of business that balances purpose and profit. This is a community of leaders, driving a global movement of people using business as a force for good.

Some of José areas of knowledge are: Software as a Service, SaaS, Networking, Sales, B2B, B2B Sales, SaaS Sales, Sales Process & Execution, Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), Goal Setting & Execution, People Management, Organizational Design, High Growth, Customer Success, Customer Service, Strategy, Strategy Planning Process, Scaling Up, Coaching, Servant Leadership, Tech Startup, Product Startup, Bootstrapped growth, Exit, Providing feedback & Candor, Early Startup Stages, three-figure growth, Values and Purpose Finding, Culture.

To learn more about Jose’s company visit http://www.waterplan.com/.

Sally Gutierrez

Sally C. Gutierrez is the Director of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Technology Innovation Cluster Development and Support Program within the Office of Research and Development (ORD). This new effort seeks to advance environmental protection in tandem with economic development through the formation of community based public private partnerships. She has been leading EPA’s efforts to leverage its research and development capability in Cincinnati, Ohio with community based assets to establish the region as a water technology innovation hub and is leading an effort to network water innovation clusters across the U.S. (http://www2.epa.gov/clusters-program).

Prior to this new appointment, she was the Director of the National Risk Management Research Laboratory (NRMRL) in Cincinnati, Ohio for 8 years. NRMRL is one of three Federal research laboratories within the USEPA’s ORD and consists of 400 scientists and support staff. The Laboratory is responsible for conducting engineering and environmental technology research to support the Agency in policy and regulatory development and implementation.

She was the Director of the Water Supply and Water Resources Division in NRMRL before becoming its Director and was responsible for leading a national technology demonstration program for control of arsenic in drinking water. Before coming to EPA she was responsible for administering water programs for the State of Texas environmental agency in the areas of drinking water, water monitoring, wastewater permitting, dam safety, water rights and utility rates.

As a member of the Senior Executive Service, she holds the highest career rank in the Federal government. In 2015, she was awarded the Federal Laboratory Consortium’s “Laboratory Director of the Year” and the Cincinnati area YWCA Career Woman of Achievement award.

Christine Boyle

Christine Boyle has a PhD in Environmental Policy and Planning and a Master’s Degree in City and Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She was a Fulbright Fellow at the Chinese Academy of Science and is a self-described water economist, data nerd and entrepreneur. She has founded two companies. The second of which, Valor Water Analytics, has been acquired by Xylem. Christine is currently the Vice President of Business Incubation at Xylem. She holds leadership positions at national AWWA and at the California/Nevada section. Ms. Boyle discusses her journey from academia to startup founder to corporate executive.

If you have any questions about the water entrepreneur podcast or would like to apply to be interviewed please email us at thewaterentrepreneur@gmail.com.

Erin Rothman

Erin K Rothman, CEO and Founder of StormSensor Inc., a climate technology startup, has 15 years of stormwater and remediation consulting experience working with cities across the United States. While serving as VP and Principal Scientist at a Seattle-based consulting company, Managing Principal at a large international consultancy, and Founder and Managing Principal of her own consulting company, Erin recognized a need for innovative data capture to manage flooding in communities. She founded StormSensor with the objective of mitigating climate risk by creating intelligent wastewater infrastructure. She has raised $16M and assembled a team of engineers with disciplines ranging from software development, computer science, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering to fulfill StormSensor’s goal of generating a smart city solution that focuses on mitigating urban flooding; reducing vulnerabilities within our coastal, wastewater, and stormwater systems; and helping our communities adapt to a changing climate. Paul and Erin spoke about identifying a global issue in climate change and developing a solution to respond to this threat. She discusses building a business as a female entrepreneur. To learn more about StormSensor Inc, please visit https://www.stormsensor.io/

If you have any questions about the water entrepreneur podcast or would like to apply to be interviewed please email us at thewaterentrepreneur@gmail.com

Martin Gross

Martin is the President and founder at Gross-Wen Technologies (GWT). GWT is a next-generation wastewater treatment company that is commercializing the revolving algal biofilm treatment technology (RAB). The RAB system sustainably recovers nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater. The byproducts from the process are clean water, clean air, and algae biomass, which can be used to create products ranging from fertilizers to nutraceuticals. During his time as President at GWT, he has led the effort in raising over $5M in equity investments, served as Principal Investigator on over $1M in SBIR grant funding, and has been granted numerous patents. Martin has dual doctoral degrees from Iowa State University (ISU) and currently serves as a professor of entrepreneurship at ISU and sits on the board of directors for the Iowa Biotechnology Association and the Algae Biomass Organization. Martin joins the Water Entrepreneur to discuss how he turned academic research into a thriving business. To learn more about Gross-Wen Technologies, please visit: https://algae.com/.

If you have any questions about the water entrepreneur podcast or would like to apply to be interviewed please email us at thewaterentrepreneur@gmail.com

Daniel Zillante

Daniel Zillante holds a B.S. in Production Engineering from Universidad Simon Bolivar in Caracas, Venezuela and he holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management. His focus is on entrepreneurship and innovation. Daniel started his first company at the age of 19 and has always been passionate about creating businesses. Before business school, he co-founded a second startup in Venezuela and worked in a corporation where he gained experience in Business Development and B2B marketing for 5 years. He is co-creator, co-founder and CEO of Zilper. Paul and Daniel discuss being business partners with a family member and creating a product to solve a unique contraction problem. To learn more about Zilper, please visit https://zilpertrenchless.com.

If you have any questions about the water entrepreneur podcast or would like to apply to be interviewed please email us at thewaterentrepreneur@gmail.com

Asim Bhalerao

Asim Bhalerao is an experienced technologist with a demonstrated history of innovation in the information technology and robotics industry from Mumbai, India. He received his BE in Electronics Engineering from Savitribai Phule Pune University, his MS in Mechanical Engineering from Santa Clara University, and his MS  in Computer Science from the University of Southern California. Asim possesses a strong background in software, electronics and mechanisms. Asim is currently the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Fluid Robotics, working to solve global water and public-health challenges. Paul and Asim talk about growing up in India and being inspired to act by how water and sewer infrastructure operated intermittently in his hometown. Asim shares how his uncle was an instrumental and important mentor in his professional life. Learn more about FLUID ROBOTICS here: http://www.fluidrobotics.com/

If you have any questions about the water entrepreneur podcast or would like to apply to be interviewed please email us at thewaterentrepreneur@gmail.com

The Water Entrepreneur Podcast

This podcast program features a series of interviews exploring the origin stories of startup founders, early adopters, and innovation champions related to their personal professional, technical, business, organizational, and financial journeys. We will explore how the guests decided to get into the water business, who their mentors are, and how they selected a technology to develop from an idea to an invention, and finally to a commercially viable innovation.

Sponsored by ASTERRA: the leader in remote Earth observation technology for the water industry, Aquarius Spectrum: an industry-leading supplier of innovative leak detection solutions, and IMAGINE H2O: envisioning and building solutions with the world’s best water entrepreneurs.

Meet your host

Paul Gagliardo

Mr. Gagliardo is well known throughout the United States, in Europe and Asia for his defining work on indirect potable reuse as a scheme to supplement the potable water supply in San Diego, California. He has pioneered the efficacy testing and use of new technologies in businesses that vary from energy conservation, hazardous waste remediation, solid waste resource recovery, water treatment, wastewater treatment, contaminant monitoring and strategic planning. He has authored over fifty technical papers on subjects ranging from low and high-pressure membrane systems, monitoring systems, UV disinfection systems, strategic planning and watershed management. He has given presentations on five continents and in ten different countries and has been the invited keynote speaker on multiple occasions.

During his twenty-plus years at the City of San Diego, Paul created and managed the Aqua2000 Research Center. This program focused on the testing of new technologies for use in the water and wastewater business. The Aqua2000 Research Center helped develop the membrane bioreactor system from a novelty to the de facto technology of choice for recycled water applications. Paul’s team developed the performance test protocols that are being used by the California Department of Health Services to determine if systems can be used in specific potable water and recycled water applications. He prepared and submitted performance analyses to the California DHS for acceptance on over twenty new technologies.

Since leaving the City of San Diego he has continued to assist innovators in the development of their new products and help them become commercialized. Currently, Mr. Gagliardo is the Manager – of Innovation Development for American Water. In this position, he is responsible for identifying new technologies that can be incorporated into American Water’s various business enterprises. The IDP’s primary objective is to look for innovations that enhance American Water’s water and wastewater services, increase operational efficiencies, lower operational costs and position American Water for growth in the areas of reuse, desalination and wastewater bioenergy. Paul is responsible for the identification and screening of ideas and navigating those selected ideas through a Stage-Gate process toward eventual commercialization inside and outside of American Water facilities.

Mr. Gagliardo is a registered engineer in the state of California and has a Master’s Degree in Public Health. He was appointed to the State of California 2003 Water Plan Update Advisory Committee, and, was instrumental in fundraising for the successful proposition 50 Water Bond campaign.

If you have any questions about the water entrepreneur podcast or would like to apply to be interviewed please email us at thewaterentrepreneur@gmail.com.