New faces, new efforts to solve water challenges
By Dean Amhaus, President & CEO
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.
You can meet some of these new people at our first member meeting of the year on Feb. 25 from 3:30-5:30 p.m. at Veolia North America’s new downtown Milwaukee office. Take this chance to learn about The Water Council’s exciting new initiatives, including our U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Regional Innovation Cluster and our Water & Wastewater Workforce Center collaboration with Veolia.
meet our new board members
We welcome our newest members to our Board of Directors. These individuals represent a diverse range of experience, education and skills from around the world:
- Dr. Kimo Ah Yun is president of Marquette University, a founding member of The Water Council and the first university to join WAVE.
- Svenja Ahlburg is the Latin America Group Director of Wilo Group, a global supplier of pumps and pumps systems based in Germany with U.S. headquarters just outside of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
- Karine Rougé is CEO of municipal water for Veolia North America, part of an international corporation working in water management, waste management and energy services.
- Sanjiv Sinha is CEO of CIS, a national leader in the development and implementation of resilient, distributed infrastructure solutions.
These new board members will help guide The Water Council as we continue to solve pressing water challenges through innovation and stewardship and grow our network at home and abroad.
more new faces
Meet Katie Kollhoff Mouat, our new director of innovation programs! She will lead our BREW 2.0 Post-Accelerator, Tech Challenge and Pilot Program. Her role is supported by our SBA cluster contract.
Katie has more than 15 years of experience spanning advanced materials for clean water, entrepreneurship, and chemical process analysis and safety management for R&D and industrial clients. She developed and led NUMix Materials, a startup dedicated to removing heavy metal pollution from water through advanced sorbent materials. Her experience in water tech entrepreneurship will be invaluable to the startups we work with. Visit our blog to learn more about Katie.
I’m also pleased to share that Veolia North America has hired Ashanti Hamilton to lead the Water & Wastewater Workforce Center, a collaboration between The Water Council and Veolia North America. Ashanti has dedicated his career to enhancing community well-being in Milwaukee and will be charged with building strong partnerships and growing Milwaukee’s water workforce.
innovation update
With Katie now in place, things are heating up with our innovation programming. We are conducting interviews with this year’s BREW 2.0 finalists this week and plan to announce the 2025 cohort soon. BREW 2.0 is sponsored by Xylem, Beckhoff Automation and Thales Water Advisors.
In early March, we will launch our spring Tech Challenge, with three topics chosen by our corporate sponsors. I’m thrilled to announce a fourth sponsor this year, Xylem, joining A. O. Smith Corporation, Badger Meter and Watts Water Technologies. The spring topics are:
- Sensors for biological organisms and disinfectant byproducts
- Removal of organic contaminants from water
- “Lab on a chip” for water and wastewater applications
Our European representative, Beverly Ferrara, and senior WAVE consultant for Europe, Joe Ferrara, represented The Water Council at WEX Global in Valencia, Spain, Feb. 10-12. WEX Global brings together high-level water and energy experts from more than 45 countries. Beverley and Joe were joined by representatives of many of our U.S. partners, including the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District and SCS Global Services, and fellow water hubs, including British Water and Water Alliance (Netherlands).
Beverley will be traveling again with Katie and Karen Frost, our vice president of economic development and innovation, March 11-14 for Aquatech Amsterdam. Karen will take part in the opening discussion of Aquatech’s Innovation Forum, “Welcome to the Fishbowl.”
water stewardship
We have teamed up with the ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB) to offer virtual comprehensive water stewardship training. This self-paced introductory course provides individuals with an overview of the best practices in the application of water stewardship for an enterprise or specific site.
In January, The Water Council held a webinar about WAVE: Water Stewardship Verified and the importance of having a corporate water stewardship plan. Thanks to Clearwater Paper, a WAVE Verified company, and SCS Global Services, our independent verification partner for WAVE, for speaking on the panel. View the recording below if you missed it.
Speaking of WAVE, we are pleased to announce that Sloan has become re-verified to the program. Sloan has been a WAVE participant since the program officially launched in 2022, and it joins Watts Water Technologies as the first two organizations to be eligible for and achieve re-verification.
As more organizations seek verification to the original WAVE program, we are preparing to launch a follow-on program this spring that helps any organization take their water stewardship program to the next level by setting targets and taking action. Watch for an exciting announcement during World Water Week about a new option for organizations that participate in the WAVE journey.
new members
We have a lot of new members to tell you about this month!
- CIS is a national leader in the development and implementation of public infrastructure solutions. As I noted earlier, Sanjiv Sinha, CEO of CIS, recently joined our Board of Directors.
- EMS Industries specializes in ram pump solutions including sludge pumps, grit pumping, grit removal, classifiers, separation and de-sludging.
- PPU offers cutting-edge technology for the treatment and reuse of sewage and industrial wastewaters through its ClearFox product line.
- RSE develops products and innovative water treatment technologies to improve water purification and water recycling processes.
- Sodimate Inc. manufactures efficient and reliable bulk discharge and handling systems for water and wastewater treatment applications.
Welcome to the hub where water works!
member news & opportunities
- News: CIS receives private financing from UIG to expand stormwater infrastructure in Milwaukee.
- News: Gross-Wen Technologies Co-founder and CEO Martin Gross named one of Engineering News-Record’s Top 25 Newsmakers of 2024.
- News: Badger Meter acquires SmartCover Systems.
- News: Jacobs selected to operate and maintain Jackson water treatment system.
- News: Xylem closes a record-breaking 2024.
- News: GKinetic Energy launches new website.
- News: PolyGone Systems is named a winner of Imagine H2O’s 2025 Coastal Innovation Challenge.
- News: Two BREW alumni, Aguagga Inc. and SENTRY, are among the 10 winners of the Tackling Water Pollution Challenge through the World Economic Forum’s Uplink Challenge. The winners were announced in January at Davos 2025.
- Event: The Wisconsin Tech Summit will be held March 17 in Milwaukee. Online applications are being accepted from emerging companies through Feb. 21. The goal of the Wisconsin Tech Summit is to bring together major firms and emerging companies in a setting that allows them to meet and explore likely business relationships around technology needs and innovation.
- Jobs: Aquacycl seeks a director of global sales.