It’s a season of change at The Water Council, as our founding CEO Dean Amhaus plans to retire later this year and the organization recently became an affiliate of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce. Learn more in our March newsletter.

Dean Amhaus, president and CEO of The Water Council, reflects on 15 years of leading the organization as he announces his retirement.

To respond to challenges involving water quality and quantity, the American Chemistry Council collaborated with The Water Council to develop the Water Body Risk Assessment (WBRA), which provides a framework and step-by-step methodology to help ACC members understand their water uses, impacts and risks in the communities in which they operate.

With a new year, we welcome several new faces helping us fulfill our mission to solve global water challenges through innovation and water stewardship. I’m excited to introduce you to our new board directors, staff member and a leader for our workforce collaboration with Veolia North America.

The Water Council recently announced the hiring of Katie Kollhoff Mouat, our new director of innovation programs. Katie’s background as an engineer and water tech entrepreneur is perfectly suited to this new role. Learn more about Katie in this interview.

2025 is bringing major changes to the U.S. federal government that are sure to impact the water sector. How will a new White House administration and Congress affect water technology innovation in areas such as research, regulations, sustainability, tax policy and funding? Learn more about our upcoming webinars along with updates to our innovation programming and water stewardship in our January newsletter.

The Water Council and Marquette University’s Sustainability Lab held our first-ever Nexus Sustainability Leaders Summit last week, and what a way to kick off a new event! Nearly 200 people gathered at the Harley-Davidson Museum to discuss pressing topics in water and energy, including climate resilience, meeting the needs for the energy transition, the role of artificial intelligence in water and energy, and sustainable finance.

The Water Council got our start supporting water technology businesses in Milwaukee’s World Water Hub, and that remains the heart of our mission today. So it was humbling and gratifying to learn recently that we have been awarded a $2.5 million Regional Innovation Cluster (RIC) award from the U.S. Small Business Administration to continue building on that foundation as a mature innovation cluster.

Water and energy are inseparable – energy generation relies heavily on water, while water treatment is deeply dependent on energy. Through its BREW 2.0 Post-Accelerator, The Water Council supports start-ups worldwide that have uncovered new possibilities and are building purpose-driven businesses. One such example is GKinetic Energy, an Irish firm that has developed a flow-accelerating hydrokinetic turbine capable of producing clean energy from canals, rivers and tidal flows.

Dean Amhaus, The Water Council president and CEO, and Stacy Vogel Davis, communications director, attended SIWW as part of the U.S. Water Partnership’s Water Smart Engagements (WiSE) program, funded by the U.S. State Department.