Michael Murphy is the Director of Innovation Council & Executive committee member of the New England Water Environment Association. As both a member of NEWEA Executive Committee and the Innovation Council Director, Michael fosters connections between public, private, non-profit, government, and academia to bring innovative solutions to market. Additionally, the Innovation Council organizes industry and knowledge-sharing gatherings showcasing innovations that exhibit a philosophy of ONE Water in New England.
Key Achievements: ▪ Co-led the Innovation Pavilion and pitch contest featuring ten startups at the 2023 NEWEA Annual Conference. ▪ Helped establish and currently coordinate business partnerships with both Evoqua and Watts Water.
Kim Cole is an Environmental Engineer with more than twenty years of experience in municipal wastewater treatment with a focus on environmental compliance. She has experience in:
Pretreatment program updates • Equipment design and selection
Pretreatment program implementation • Site-specific limit development/water quality issues
NPDES permit renewal assistance • Actively involved in technical committees
Wastewater treatment design
Her company: KimHEC assists communities on the management of their pretreatment programs and NPDES-related issues including biosolids management and development of site-specific limits. Provide assistance to industrial clients on wastewater sustainability and permitting issues.
Specific roles and functions performed as the Principal at KimHEC include: Pretreatment Program Updates
Legal authority
Enforcement response plans
Local limit evaluations Pretreatment Program Implementation
Training for municipal staff and/or industries
Assistance during inspection activities
Compliance determinations and enforcement activities
Industrial user permit development including fact sheets
Self-monitoring report templates
Sampling plans for compliance NPDES Permit Assistance
Review of historical data for reporting limits and coordination with MDNR on the reasonable potential calculations
Mr. Shaul Rom is the founder & CTO of Reali Technologies and he is the founder & president of Topco Control & Automation. With more than 30 years of track record in Industrial Control, instrumentation, fieldbus technologies, radio and cellular communication, his core expertise areas are Programmable Controllers, HMIs, Industrial IT and SCADA. Mr. Rom is an entrepreneur in the area of cloud technology for Realtime Remote Control and Monitoring. Under his leadership Reali technologies designed and developed the cutting-edge technology known globally as RealiteQ. Furthermore, Shaul Rom is the founder and president of Topco Control & Automation, a leading Israeli firm in the industrial automation market.Mr. Rom is an Instrumentation & Control Engineer. He is a teacher in Rupin AcademicCenter and in Ariel University and he is a preferable speaker in Telemetry, IndustrialAutomation, SCADA and Control sessions. Mr. Rom has published numerous articles dealing with SCADA, intelligent water systems, remote control of facilities, telemetry, distributed systems, pressure monitoring & dynamic control, energy efficiency, global water supply management over the internet and more.
Founder & CTO of Reali Technologies, developer of RealiteQ.
Founder & president of Topco Control & Automation.
Founder of the Association for Competitive Pilots in Israel.
Member of the Public Administration of the Water Sector of the Israel Export Institute.
Member of the International Standardization Committee of Smart Cities.
Former member of the International Standardization Committee of Industrial sewer.
Former head of municipal comity of Beerotaim, Emek Hefer.
Former secretary of Dolphin association.
Accident investigator certified by the Israeli Ministry of Transport – Specialty aviation disasters.
Expert in sensors and underwater acoustics – former submariner in the Israeli navy.
Private pilot license holder.
Graduate of the training program for directors of the Ono Academic Center.
Speaks Hebrew (native), English and a bit of German & Arabic languages.
Daniel Lambert is a director, chair, executive, and engineer with over 20 years of board and executive-level experience across the private and not-for-profit sectors with particular experience in management consulting, utilities, and public policy. He is passionate about water, energy, and the environment and delivering positive social and environmental outcomes for customers and the community.
At the board level, Lambert draws on his experience and skills to provide oversight, foresight, and insight. He does that by demonstrating a focus on ensuring a clearly articulated and measurable strategy, accountability, and a strong organizational culture. Board-level highlights include: Global Strategic Advisory Council at International Water Association; Director at Engineers Without Borders Australia; Chair and Director at Carbon8; Technical Advisory Board at Operation Water; Chair of the Expert Review Panel at Australian Water Partnership; Director, Consult Australia National Board; Member of the International Advisory Committee, Global Water Institute.
In an executive capacity, Lambert is currently the Executive Manager of Sustainable Infrastructure Solutions at Unitywater. In this role, he is responsible for leading all aspects of long-term strategic asset planning, asset management, asset performance, efficient capital works delivery, laboratory services, water quality management, and property management. Previously, as Australasia Water Leader and a member of the Global Water Executive at Arup, he established and led the growth of the water business with a key focus on helping clients to deliver social and environmental outcomes and respond to emerging trends and disruptors. They have expanded the business into new countries and geographies and positioned the business as advisors to C-suite executives. Previously, he was the Water Leader for South East Asia within the same company., was the Planning Partner Services Lead, and Client Lead at Sydney Water for the first two years of the Partnering for Success program and then served on the SteerCo and PCG.
Finally, Daniel Lambert is an Adjunct Professor, a Fellow of Engineers Australia, a qualified Engineering Executive, and a Fellow of the Institute of Managers and Leaders. He has been a recipient of the Australian Water Association Water Professional of the Year Award and recognized as one of Australia’s ‘Most Innovative Engineers’ by Engineers Australia. In 2021, he was awarded the highest honor in Australia for civil engineering – the Sir John Holland Award and in 2022 the Australian Professional Environmental Engineer of the Year.
Ari Goldfarb is the CEO and Owner of KANDO. Goldfarb is an expert in wastewater monitoring and treatment, with more than 15 years of experience in the field of wastewater management. He is an experienced multidisciplinary environmental management and project manager who serves as the process manager of the Jerusalem wastewater treatment plant. Ari Goldfarb is also a project manager for the development of integrated environmental information systems and a consultant in the field of industrial pollution policy-making for the Israeli environmental ministry director-general.
KANDO provides wastewater network insights to cities by analyzing real-time data that is retrieved from LOT sensors located at strategic points around the network. Understanding the sources of unique events allows cities to prevent harmful events from entering the WWTP and predict future network events.
Scott is President of Imagine H2O, a water innovation organization that envisions and builds solutions with the world’s best water entrepreneurs. Since 2009, Imagine H2O’s accelerator programs have supported over 165 water startups which have collectively scaled water solutions to over 1.1 billion people and raised more than $850 million in early-stage investment. In 2019, the organization launched Imagine H2O Asia, a Singapore-based accelerator program that bridges global innovation to cities and communities across Southeast Asia. The organization also hosts the Urban Water Challenge, a global deployment program for entrepreneurs reimagining a water-resilient future. Imagine H2O is supported by leading philanthropies, corporate sponsors, and public sector partners.
Scott serves on the National Alliance for Water Innovation’s (NAWI) Innovation and Commercialization Council and is an advisor to the Environmental Policy Innovation Center. Prior to Imagine H2O, Scott developed ESG and cleantech investment strategies for institutional and private clients at Royal Bank of Canada and Piper Jaffray. He has a BA in Economics from the Colorado College.
Gary Eaton has been involved in water utility planning, construction, operations, and maintenance for over 35 years, in positions as varied as construction inspector to senior executive. Fourteen of those years, as Director of Operations & Maintenance for the San Diego County Water Authority. Over his career he participated in the planning, design, construction, and operation of numerous Capital Improvement Projects, including the Olivenhain Dam, Lake Hodges 40 MW Pumped Storage Facility, Twin Oaks Valley Water Treatment Plant, Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Facility and San Vicente Dam Raise Project. As a senior member of the executive team, Gary led and participated in numerous value engineering and operations reviews of critical infrastructure projects providing an operations focus to ensure projects would perform as designed when placed into operation.
Gary developed the scope of services and contract for the outsourcing of operations and maintenance for the Lake Hodges Hydrogeneration Facility, resulting in increased revenue to the Water Authority and operational readiness for SDG&E. In addition, Gary provided detailed plan review for all major capital projects and worked closely with Engineering staff to ensure both operations and voice of customer concerns were met prior to construction. During the construction phase, Gary was often asked to review and approve contractor change orders and design changes, seeking solutions the met the Water Authority’s needs while maintaining or reducing the project budget and construction critical path. He led the Water Authority’s Asset Management Program including the communications strategy and finance plan. In 2006, Gary led the team that implemented the first use of acoustic fiber optics to monitor pipeline condition in the United States. As energy program manager, Gary optimized rate schedules, implemented energy conservation measures, and contracted for the purchase of deregulated energy resulting in over $500K savings per year. His passion for high level performance and coordination led him to implement Operations Annual Aqueduct Operating Plan, Weekly Operations & Maintenance Operating Plan, Operations Dashboard and Standard Operating Procedures across eight Departments. He was also responsible for developing the County-wide Treated Water Shortage Allocation Plan, the Water Authorities emergency response plan and served as Incident Commander for major emergencies including the Cedar (2003) and Witch Creek (2007) Fires. Over the course of his career, Gary conducted detailed management studies, participated in the development of Long Range Financing Plans, Climate Action Plan, Facilities Master Plans, developed policy and operating procedures, conducted regulatory and legislative analysis, and led program development in a wide-range of areas. During his final two years with the Water Authority, Gary was selected as their first Chief Innovation Officer. He led the identification and implementation of Authority-wide opportunities for process improvement, which included creation of the Innovation Program strategy, KPI metrics, program tools and tracking dashboard. Gary provided coaching and mentoring to staff and executives in the use of lean tools and process improvement methods and participated in development of the Water Research Foundation’s “Fostering Innovation in Water Utilities” national guidance standards, published March 2017. Gary received his M.S. in Operations Management from the University of Arkansas.
James Perry Executive Vice President, EarthWorks Division, Americas
James Perry has spent over thirty years driving disruptive innovation. In both start-ups and Fortune 500 companies, James’ key mission is market adoption and to achieve a deeper foothold into new markets. An experienced Vice President of Business Development with a demonstrated history of working in the computer software industry. Perry is skilled in Business Planning, Go-to-market Strategy, Strategic Partnerships, Management, and Solution Selling. graduated from United States International University. James currently serves as the VP for Business Development at ASTERRA, based in San Diego, CA. In his free time, James likes to sail out of the Mission Bay Yacht Club in San Diego and formerly held the position of Commodore in 2016.
To learn more about Asterra, please visit: asterra.io
Elly Perets, CEO at ASTERRA, a Technology by Utilis.
Elly Perets is the Chief Executive Officer at Utilis. He has over 20 years of experience in executive management, enterprise software sales, marketing, business development, and OEM. Perets joined Utilis in 2015. Previously, he founded Progressive Labs and served as the CEO, providing an innovative SAAS-based software solution for retailers worldwide. Elly served as Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Pageflex Inc., a US based company, operating from Marlborough MA, providing web-based branding, documenting compassion engines and campaign management solutions. Elly has a vast knowledge in Theory of Constraints having served as a consultant at the Goldratt Group. Prior to that, Elly served as Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Press-sense Ltd., a web-based software management systems provider.
Elly Holds a Master of Science in Engineering (M.S.E.) from University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, The Wharton School and the School of Engineering & Applied Science as well as a Law degree (L.L.B) and a Business degree from the Interdisciplinary Center, Herzlia, Israel.
Alan Roberson is the Executive Director of the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators (ASDWA). ASDWA’s members (the state drinking water agencies) are co-regulators with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). He has over 32 years of experience in Washington, D.C. on the development of drinking water policy, and federal drinking water regulations on water quality, and security and preparedness issues. He provides technical and policy input on all aspects of the drinking water regulations, as well as working with Congressional staff on potential amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). He works closely with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on ensuring the safety and reliability of water systems. He has developed both an understanding and an appreciation of the varied perspectives of the federal government, the state primacy agencies, and the water systems, and how to blend those perspectives so that the goal of public health protection is maintained. He has a Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering from Georgia Tech and a Master of Science of Civil Engineering from Virgina Tech. He is a registered Professional Engineer in Virginia. He has served on the Board of Fairfax Water for over 14 years, and currently serves as Treasurer and as Chairs of both the Finance and Audit Committee and the Water Quality and Supply Committee.
Shane Trussell, President and CEO of Trussell Technologies, Inc.
Dr. Trussell is a registered Civil Engineer in the State of California with more than 20 years of hands-on experience with the processes used to treat water, wastewater, and potable reuse. Dr. Trussell has extensive involvement in numerous potable reuse projects throughout the state, ranging from feasibility studies and pilot testing to design and regulatory permitting. Dr. Trussell led two major research efforts funded by the WateReuse Research Foundation (now Water Research Foundation): WRRF 11-02 (Equivalency of Advanced Treatment Trains for Potable Reuse) and WRRF 14-12 (Demonstrating Redundancy and Monitoring to Achieve Reliable Potable Reuse), with a combined project budget total of $3.4 million, to advance the implementation of potable reuse in California. Recently, the State Water Board selected Dr. Trussell to co-lead a state-funded project to evaluate strategies for dealing with peaks of chemical contaminants. The State Board is now using the findings from this research to develop statewide regulations for DPR. Dr. Trussell is an industry leader in potable reuse and developing water supplies, leading innovative, effective engineering and research projects throughout California.
Robert Wimmer (President/CEO, Aqua-Aerobic Systems)
Bob Wimmer has been President and CEO of Aqua-Aerobic Systems since 1998. Bob previously was Divisional Managing Director (Chief Executive) of the Products Division of Thames Water PLC, a London based company, and commuted between the U.S. and London. Prior to that he served as President/CEO of Thames Water Products and Services Division in the U.S. Bob received his MBA from the Golden Gate University in San Francisco and his BSME from New York Institute of Technology. He is also an alumnus of the Senior Executive Program of London Business School and various other graduate programs at IMD, Lucerne, Switzerland and The Wharton School of business. Bob has been active in various professional organizations, including the Water & Wastewater Equipment Manufacturers Association (served as past Chairman) and the WateReuse Association (Board of Directors). His community involvement includes OSF St. Anthony Medical Center (past board member), Rosecrance (board member), and Rockford Bank & Trust (board member). He was a 2014 inductee into the Northern Illinois Business Hall of Fame.
Rick Bacon has served as CEO of Aqua Metrology Systems (AMS) since 2012. Prior to joining AMS, Rick held senior management and board level positions in the energy, industrial, technology, and water sectors. Rick, who has a keen interest in technology start-ups and innovation, has led AMS through their development and commercialization of online, real-time analytical and remediation solutions to predict, control and treat a range of contaminants in drinking water, process water and wastewater. Rick holds a degree in Land Economy from the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom and a PhD from the University of California Santa Barbara.
Beth McDaniel (President Reactive Surfaces Partner at McDaniel and Associates, PC) received her BBA in finance from the University of Texas in 1988, and JD in law from South Texas College of Law in 1996. She has been with Reactive Surfaces since 2006, both as a director/advisor and officer of the company. Beth has 25 years of business experience and 17 years of legal experience with an emphasis on contracts, licensing and business operations. Mrs. McDaniel serves as President and Chief of Administration for Reactive Surfaces, assisting in implementing ongoing company business, business transactions and office management.
Director of Unmanned Ariel Systems at American Water
Chris is a geospatial professional with over 22 years of progressive experience in large cross-functional organizations performing geospatial program development, GNSS spatial data workflow management, spatial analysis, terrestrial/aerial survey, UAS program development, interactive mapping, and GIS field mobility.
Kim Patrick Kobza is a cofounder of True Elements. Mr. Kobza is a technology and social impact entrepreneur with over 20 years of executive experience as a co-founder and CEO. He stewards True Elements’ strategic growth, finance, and cross-functional leadership.
Before True Elements, Mr. Kobza co-founded and was CEO of Neighborhood America (NA), a SaaS pioneer building public communications systems for public outreach, major media, and commercial applications. (13 years). NA built systems for Imagine New York (World Trade Center), Statue of Liberty, Flight 93 Memorial, the American Express Open B2B network, and several major media companies. NA received three global SIIA awards as best in enterprise-class software.
Mr. Kobza then founded Innovation that Matters, a personal social impact portfolio before becoming CEO of True Elements. Mr. Kobza was recognized as the SIIA Entrepreneur of the Year in Florida (2009). He has a B.S. in Economics, Math, and Earth Sciences from Central Michigan University and a J.D. from Wayne State University and spent 17 years in the private practice of law specializing in land use, business organization, and strategic finance.
True Elements is dedicated to establishing a global standard in the emerging field of Water Intelligence. Our mission is to play a part in improving decision-making for water quality, quantity, and climate risk through forecasting – the World’s first authoritative water quality and resiliency forecasting system. Broadly, we are linking the water cycle to the carbon cycle.
Highly Regarded Entrepreneurial Business Executive / Growth Focused Business Visionary / Cultivator of High Caliber Teams that Achieve a Unified Vision
►Areas I Excel In Building and inspiring teams that not only achieve repeated double digit growth and innovation, but also train leaders within those organizations to achieve more today and in the future. I have had the privilege of mentors that have inspired and informed my leadership and business acumen to repeatedly achieve success regardless of the market type. I have held such a diverse set of roles and in multiple markets that I can acutely identify the minutia that can unhinge a plan and craft multilevel strategies that resist the dynamics of a rapidly growing business. My leadership skills and resilient personality allow me to drive key initiatives, establishing benchmarks/KPIs to measure success and redirect to achieve double digit P&L results. My diverse strategic business acumen gives me the ability to see the big picture desired by a board and crisply communicate innovative strategies to internal teams, clients, and my executive team to optimize organizational success.
►What Drives Me I am passionate about taking a team of talented professionals and focusing them on a common vision from which they derive inspiration and achieve high growth objectives. I find it easy to connect with people and create an environment of collaboration, empowerment, respect, loyalty, and teamwork building trust through transparency. High caliber teams allow me to apply business strategies that achieve big results. I am passionate about diversity of personnel, experiences and opinions that allow the team to achieve their best outcomes. Entrepreneurial leadership with a crisp vision and a robust team empowers my passion for a business.
►Some of My Proudest Accomplishments ✶Crafted and secured the largest prime progressive Design-Build / EPC contract ($540M) that ultimately became the highest generating profit project in company 100 year history. ✶In a 2 year period executed a complete turnaround of a struggling EPC transmission and distribution business driving client, contract and regional diversity that achieved double digit top line growth and profitable results. ✶Over a 3 year period diversified a singular focused engineering P&L into solar PV, transmission and distribution, water, wind, energy storage, electric transportation infrastructure among others. These markets are occupied by an engineering led, technology focused client base that ultimately award large EPC contracts on that basis. This was a strategic intent to create diversity as the EPC power market pivoted away from fossils which prior to this approach was the sole division focus.
Sue J. Mecham, Ph.D., is Co-Founder and CEO of NALA Membranes, a new-generation membrane company based in the Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. NALA is developing new chlorine tolerant reverse osmosis membranes from new, chlorine-stable, polymers. Sue has over 25 years of experience building and leading technical and business teams in both industry and academia. Sue’s background is in polymer chemistry and organizational management with a Ph.D. from Virginia Tech and manufacturing, sales, and leadership at Acadia Polymers, Polymer Solutions Incorporated, Virginia Tech, and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Judy Riffle, PhD in polymer chemistry, is the Chief Technical Officer of NALA Membranes. She joined Union Carbide Corp. as a research scientist upon graduation working on synthesis and manufacturing of non-ionic polyols and their incorporation into polyurethane foams. She joined Thoratec Laboratories Corp., then a biomedical start-up company, in 1983 as Vice President of Research and Development. While at Thoratec, she co-directed (with Robert Ward) the synthesis and processing of polyurethanes that later became the materials for their FDA-approved ventricular assist devices and vascular grafts. Dr. Riffle joined Virginia Tech in 1988 as a professor of chemistry, where she taught and conducted research for 31 years. During that time, she mentored 68 graduate students who are now working mostly as polymer chemists and engineers in U.S. industries.
Sue and Judy founded NALA Membranes in 2018 together. NALA’s goal is to commercialize an entirely new set of water purification membranes that are chemically durable against strong oxidants including chlorine to avoid biofouling and to enhance “cleanability”. NALA has been selected for internationally recognized accelerators including MassChallenge and Imagine H2O-Asia, and in November 2021 was presented with a Cleantech award from the NC Tech Association. NALA was awarded National Science Foundation SBIR Phase I and II grants, and receives financial backing by venture and angel investors.
Johnny Pujol, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of SimpleLab. To learn about SimpleLab home water test kits, visit Tap Score.
Johnny Pujul is a water quality expert with a background in commercialization and development of electrochemical arsenic remediation, off-grid water treatment and UV LED technology for pathogen and pharmaceutical inactivation. Johnny has a Masters in Engineering from UC Berkeley and Bachelors in Economics from Boston University.
Johnny’s goal is to bring laboratory services to the forefront of how you evaluate products to buy, consume and propagate. Beginning with the first user-friendly marketplace for accredited water, food, and product testing services (SimpleLab), our team delivers reliable sampling logistics, laboratory testing, and result reporting more elegantly than ever before. Structuring analytical lab services on a unified platform, and integrating efficient logistics is necessary to support modern demand for complex environmental sampling, testing and the resultant decision-making.
Gregg Semler is the CEO and Founder of InPipe Energy: a renewable energy and smart water technology company focused on generating renewable energy from water pipelines to improve resiliency and sustainability in cities and communities around the world.
Gregg Semler is a veteran entrepreneur with extensive experience in the clean energy and water sectors. Gregg’s ability to raise capital, lead teams, and bring innovative products to market are the hallmarks of his career.
A graduate of Columbia College in New York, Gregg also earned an MBA from The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. Since 2000, he has served as CEO for a variety of companies, including PolyFuel, and ClearEdge Power. From 2007-2015 he was Managing Director at Pivotal Instruments, a venture capital firm the first early-stage venture fund in the Northwest focused on sustainability.
In 2011, he led Lucid Energy, a clean technology company that developed a novel turbine that produced energy in water pipes. In 2016, Gregg founded InPipe Energy, where he saw an untapped global opportunity to develop a turnkey energy recovery system to generate a new source of renewable energy from water pipeline networks.
Aaron Tartakovsky is Co-Founder and CEO of Epic Cleantec, a leading water technology company based in San Francisco that deploys water reuse systems into the built environment. Prior to his career in sustainability, Aaron worked in federal politics and has remained active in affecting public policy on the local, state, and national levels. Aaron speaks frequently on urban water management at universities and industry gatherings throughout world, and was recently named a 2023 World Economic Forum Top Innovator. Under Aaron’s leadership, Epic Cleantec has achieved numerous accolades, including being named to Fast Company’s 2023 World Changing Ideas Awards and having Epic’s newly unveiled OneWater™ system named to TIME’s Best Inventions of 2022 list.
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.
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.
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.
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 Mastersof Sciencefrom Yale University and founded the consulting arm ofthe 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.
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
* 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 (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.
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 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.
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 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 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 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 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
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 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.
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.
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 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.
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 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.
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).
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 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.
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 is CEO of 2S Water, where they have developed the world’s first sensor for detecting metals in water in real time. She has anMBA, 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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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 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 StormSensorwith 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 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 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 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
Our first guest Lauren Guy is from Beer Sheva, Israel, with a BSc in Geomorphology and Remote Sensing from Ben-Gurion University and an MSc in Geophysics from Hebrew University of Jerusalem International. Lauren co-founded ASTERRA (Technology by Utilis) in 2013 with a novel approach to finding water leaks from space. He has highly diversified skills across industry and function, a deep technical background, mainstream management capabilities and possesses a startup ‘out-of-the-box’ mentality. Lauren possesses seven patents in remote sensing and SAR. Lauren joins The Water Entrepreneur to discuss finding water on Mars, how Israel supports innovative startup companies and his journey from conceptual idea to a multi-million dollar enterprise. Learn more about ASTERRA here: https://asterra.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
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 fund raising 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
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, IMAGINE H2O: envisioning and building solutions with the world’s best water entrepreneurs, and BlueTech Research: a team of industry experts in water technology market intelligence that is the premier source of actionable water market intelligence.
Meet your host
Paul Gagliardo
Paul Gagliardo, MPH, P.E
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.
