Tuesday, March 25 marked our 1st Quarter Member Meeting of 2014! Thank you to our host, Pentair for providing us with the meeting space and tour of the facility. Our 2nd Quarterly Member Meeting will be Thursday, May 29 – if you’re interested in hosting, please contact our Director of Marketing & Membership, Meghan Jensen. It was great to see so many familiar faces in attendance, as well as many new ones. For those that were unable to attend, here is a brief recap.
Sam Karge, VP of Residential, Commercial, and Industrial Filtration, Pentair, welcomed our members to the facility, and gave a brief presentation about Pentair and it’s rich history; starting as a holding company, transitioning later into an operating company, and finally transforming itself into a full-on high-performance company, valued at more than $15 billion.
Featured Speaker: Scott Anderson, Partner, Foley & Lardner, LLP, discussed the 2013 Water Technology US Patent Landscape Annual Report. The report covers all water industry patents from 2008-2012, and is meant to give an idea of trends, opportunities, who is filing them, and an overall snapshot of water technology innovations and advancements. Patents were divided into the following categories; purification, metering, irrigation, desalination, and groundwater, these categories were selected due to industry relevance and significant patent activity. Major takeaways from the presentation were that patents in water technology are on the rise, after a brief decline between 2010-2011. The main category that has seen the largest increase was in water purification, attributed to the fact that access to freshwater is becoming a major issue in many areas of the world. Finally, the United States leads other countries in water technology patent origin and ownership. FULL REPORT
Marketing Update: Meghan Jensen, Director of Marketing & Membership, The Water Council, informed the audience that since our last meeting we celebrated our wonderful members at the Member Appreciation Party hosted by MillerCoors, have welcomed Office Manager & Executive Assistant Angela May to our staff, the Global Water Center (GWC) has continued hosting trade delegations from around the world and numerous events, our interactive 2013 Annual Report is now available, and the Leadership Strategic Vision is in the final stages of approval.
We have also welcomed several new tenants to the GWC, including; Total Water Treatment Systems, Phigenics LLC, MikroFlot Technologies, and GRAEF (in April). The Water Council also received several awards including: the Business Journal Eureka Award, LEED® Silver certification for the GWC, the Platinum American Society of Interior Designers, and another design award to be announced in May.
It was also announced that Water Summit 2014 Thriving in the Global Water Economy, June 18-19, has finalized tracks and the agenda will be available soon for the full Summit. New keynotes announced were Kim Marotta, Director of Sustainability, MillerCoors, and Dr. Jerry Spinelli, OPIC. Make sure to REGISTER to ensure your ticket to this years Summit before it sells out.
Lastly, Meghan welcomed several new members to The Water Council, 20 since our last meeting, and outlined some of the benefits of membership, including:
Global Water Center Room Rentals: Angela May at amay@thewatercouncil.com or 1.414.988.8752
If you have job/internship openings that you’d like us to share with members, please send a complete position description including application instructions to admin@thewatercouncil.com
If you have a water-related event that you’d like us to share with members, please email admin@thewatercouncil.com for the event announcement form.
Talent Campaign: Heather Koehn, Campaign Co-Chair & Marketing Manager, Pentair, identified the 3 main foci of the Talent Campaign for 2014 as Internships & Co-ops, Membership Engagement, and Career Pathways. She also announced The Pay it Forward Campaign, challenging members to volunteer, give testimonials of how someone “opened-a-door” for them in their career, and provide opportunities for new talent to advance their careers.
Heather also stressed the idea of “Strength through collaboration,” and provided a checklist of ways to create membership engagement, including participating on a panel discussion, hiring an intern, adopting a class, serving as a featured speaker, or conducting tours.
Lastly, Heather invited members to attend the next Talent & Education meeting, Thursday, April 4, or join an Internship/Co-op Panel, Wednesday, April 30 at the Global Water Center, covering employment and connecting students and businesses. Interested attendees, or panelists, should contact Elizabeth Thelen, ethelen@thewatercouncil.com.
The BREW: Elizabeth Thelen, The Water Council’s Director of Entrepreneurship & Talent, invited students from the Lead to Succeed program to present their water project video and presentation.
She then re-introduced The BREW, formerly the Global Freshwater Seed Accelerator. Open enrollment for the second round is now underway until April 4. The inaugural class will graduate on June 19 as part of Water Summit 2014, at which time, the second class will be announced. Follow all the latest developments with The BREW at their website: www.TheBREW-MKE.com, or on Twitter, @TheBREW_MKE.
Elizabeth also announced that The Water Council, in partnership with the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC), will host a Wisconsin Pavilion at WEFTEC, September 27-October 1, in New Orleans. Members can join us through 4 levels of sponsorship, allowing them use of the WI Pavilion logo, kiosk, video, etc. To get involved contact Elizabeth.
Guest Presenters:
Mowat Centre: Dave Kliber, President/CEO, SF Analytical Laboratories, gave a brief introduction of the Mowat Centre’s study on the Economic Impact of Low Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway Water Levels. The study examines how historically low water levels impact areas such as shipping, fishing, harbor infrastructure, recreational activities, and waterfront properties. Watch for the full report coming soon.
Engineers Without Borders (EWB): Caroline Mosley, graduate student, UW-Milwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences, highlighted the work of the EWB-UW-Milwaukee chapter, which focuses on sustainable engineering projects both locally and internationally to improve the quality of life in developing communities. You can support the EWB-UWM chapter by attending or sponsoring the annual Clean Water Benefit Silent Auction or joining their team at the Run4Water MKE 5k Run/Walk, Saturday, April 5, Milwaukee Lakefront, REGISTER HERE!
Our 2nd Quarter Member Meeting is scheduled for Thursday, May 29, if you are interested in hosting this meeting, please contact Meghan Jensen, at mjensen@thewatercouncil.com.
To download the 2014 Q1 Member Meeting Presentation CLICK HERE