AWWA  DIRECTOR  REPORT  –  JANUARY  2015  

-­‐  Tom  Wolf,  AWWA  Director/WEF  Trustee  

I just returned from the AWWA Winter Board Meeting in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was an action packed two-day meeting. During the Board Special Session on Friday we received updates on the progress being made on AWWA’s important on-going work on the initiatives I mentioned in my previous update: AWWA2020, AWWAIndia, Community Engineering Corps, and the Philanthropic Initiative. Good progress is being made on all the initiatives:

AWWA2020: A Path to One AWWA – a Strategic Coordination Team has been established and work plans have been developed and milestones set for each of the five strategic areas – membership, education, finance, branding and communications. AWWAIndia - AWWA is establishing a presence in India. AWWA leadership will be traveling to India in the next couple of weeks to meet with local leaders across the country and continue the work to get an office open in Mumbai and hire an Executive Manager of AWWAIndia. Community Engineering Corps - The Community Engineering Corps™ was initiated by AWWA, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and Engineers Without Borders–USA (EWB-USA). This program is making good progress with projects in development in several locations around the USA. AWWA is working to have more of the projects selected in the future to be water related. AWWA’s Philanthropic Initiative – Currently AWWA has two endowed scholarships, the Abel Wolman Academic Fellowship and the Larson Aquatic Research Support. AWWA’s website has been enhanced to make it easier for members to donate. There is a “Donate” button on the AWWA website homepage that takes you directly to where you can donate. Additionally, a philanthropic Development Office has been established a Manager selected

Elections - During the regular meeting on Saturday elections for AWWA officers were held. The Board elected Jeanne Bennett-Bailey of Fairfax, Va. as the association’s next president-elect and chose four new vice presidents and one new director-at-large.

An AWWA member since 1990, Bennett-Bailey is the public affairs officer for Fairfax Water in Fairfax, Va., the state’s largest water utility. Currently chair of the AWWA Public Affairs Council, Bennett-Bailey received AWWA’s Volunteer of the Year Award in 2014.

Bennett-Bailey begins her role as president-elect in June 2015, at the conclusion of AWWA’s Annual Conference and Exposition in Anaheim, Calif. She will serve her one-year presidential term beginning in June 2016.

A graduate of George Mason University in Virginia, Bennett-Bailey holds many leadership positions within AWWA, including as a member of the Board of Directors, the Executive Committee, the Utility Quality Management Committee and the Diversity and Member Inclusion Committee. The four new vice presidents selected by the board are:

• Steve Dennis has a long history of service in the California/Nevada Section. He has served as section chair, as a member of the executive committee and governing board, and on various committees. • Jon Eaton has been a member of the Minnesota Section for over 20 years, where he most notably built the section’s scholarship fund to its planned level. He is superintendent of utilities at the City of Eagan, Minn. • Martha Segal is notable at the Kentucky/Tennessee Section for founding and chairing the section’s Diversity Committee. She is an assistant director at Metro Water Services in Nashville, Tenn. • Brian Steglitz is a director at the Michigan Section and is active on numerous committees at the Association level. He received the Raymond J. Faust Award for Outstanding Personal Service the Water Supply Field from the Section in 2013. Also elected was Sally Mills-Wright as director-at-large. Mills-Wright from the Texas Section is the water treatment manager at the City of Arlington’s Water Utilities Division. She has been particularly active in bringing veterans into

If you would like addition information about any of the above activities or if you have any questions about AWWA, feel free to send me an e-mail at twolf1@ch2m.com.