The Executive Exchange

In this episode of the Exec Exchange podcast, host Piers Clark speaks with Dr. Marcus Rink, Chief Inspector at the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI), about his career path from medical science into the water industry and his progression at DWI to Chief Inspector in 2015. Marcus explains the statutory role of DWI across England and Wales in policing drinking water quality, sufficiency, security, em...

In this episode of the Exec Exchange podcast, host Piers Clark speaks with Dr. Jo Burgess, Chief Executive of the Tech Ascend Foundation, about “Pilot Heaven” and how to escape “Pilot Purgatory” in the water sector. Jo explains Tech Ascend’s Trial Reservoirs Initiative, an evergreen revolving fund providing repayable grants that de-risks full-scale trials through a trial and purchase agreement wit...

In this episode of the Exec Exchange podcast, host Piers Clark speaks with Mehul Patel, Executive Director at Orange County Water District in Southern California, about the Groundwater Replenishment System (GWRS). Mehul explains OCWD’s role in managing the Orange County Groundwater Basin, which supplies 19 municipal agencies and serves 2.5 million people, and describes how OCWD partnered with Oran...

In this episode of the Exec Exchange podcast, host Piers Clark speaks with Lawrence Gosden, Chief Executive of Southern Water, along the river bank of the Anton. Lawrence shares his career path from pipe laying to civil engineering, and explains Southern Water’s role across the UK. The conversation focuses on Southern Water's project about restoring River Anton's health after the postwar river str...

In this episode of the Exec Exchange podcast, host Piers Clark speaks with George Theo, CEO of TasWater, in the third of three conversations about TasWater’s journey toward breakthrough performance. George shares his background in the water sector and outlines TasWater’s scale and challenges, including widespread sewerage treatment non-compliance and decades of underinvestment. He explains why lea...

In this episode of the Exec Exchange podcast, host Piers Clark speaks with Callan Paske, the new General Manager for Customer and Community at TasWater, about what breakthrough performance means and why it matters. Callan outlines TasWater’s context as a utility formed from 29 councils, managing many assets across rural and regional Tasmania, and explains the shift from incremental improvement to...

In this episode of the Exec Exchange podcast, host Piers Clark speaks with Anselmo Collins, Chief Operating Officer for water at LADWP, about Los Angeles’ water resource challenges and the utility’s shift toward local supply. Anselmo explains LADWP serves about 4 million customers across 473 square miles, delivering roughly 450 million gallons per day while importing about 90% of its water via aqu...

In this episode of the Exec Exchange podcast, host Piers Clark speaks with Brendan Windmeyer, General Manager for Operations at TasWater, about the operational transformation underway at Tasmania’s statewide water utility. Brendan outlines his path from safety and contracting roles into operations leadership, then describes TasWater’s scale and challenges, including dispersed assets and legacy per...

In this episode of the Exec Exchange podcast, host Piers Clark speaks with Kim Skibsted, CEO of the Grundfos Foundation, about Project Flow and its role in improving water access in refugee settlements and communities. Kim shares his unconventional path from studying Scandinavian literature and serving briefly in the Danish Parliament to leading the foundation that owns Grundfos, the world’s large...

In this episode of the Exec Exchange podcast, host Piers Clark speaks with Matthew Parr, Deputy CEO at Tideway, about London’s 16 mile Thames Tideway Tunnel super sewer, designed to intercept sewage overflows into the River Thames and connect to the Lee Tunnel and sewage treatment works. Matthew shares his 30 year career and how he joined Tideway in 2011. The conversation explains why Sir Joseph B...

In this episode of the Exec Exchange podcast, host Piers Clark speaks with Matt Wheeldon, Infrastructure Development Director at Wessex Water, about reframing storm overflow challenges as a rainwater quantity problem best solved through source control. Matt outlines Wessex Water’s service area and explains how high groundwater and prolonged rain can drive inflows to sewers, while summers bring sca...

In this episode of the Exec Exchange podcast, host Piers Clark speaks with Ernie Lau, Chief Engineer and Managing Director of the Honolulu Board of Water Supply in Hawaii, for an update on the US Navy’s Red Hill underground fuel storage facility and its impacts on Oahu’s sole-source aquifer. Ernie recounts major jet fuel releases in 2014 and 2021, explaining how the 2021 spill contaminated the Nav...

In this episode of Exec Exchange, Piers Clark welcomes Martin Jackson, the new Chief Information Officer at Northumbrian Water in the UK. Martin shares his career journey, transitioning from the automotive sector to utilities, and the various roles he's undertaken within Northumbrian Water. He discusses the importance of apprenticeships and the value of diversity in driving innovation. Martin elab...

In this episode of the Exec Exchange podcast, host Piers Clark speaks with Nigel Watson, former CIO of Northumbrian Water, about executive-level succession and the transition to his successor. Nigel reflects on his 40+ year career across multiple sectors and explains how early planning with CEO Heidi Mottram and internal succession preparation with Martin Jackson supported continuity. He emphasize...

In this episode of the Exec Exchange podcast, host Piers Clark speaks with Darren Cleary, the new Managing Director of Sydney Water, about leadership at the largest water utility in Australia. Darren outlines Sydney Water’s role serving around 5.5 million customers across 13,000 square kilometers, providing water, wastewater, recycled water, and some stormwater services, operating within an econom...

In this World Water Day edition of Exec Exchange, Piers Clark speaks with Tanya Huizer, Senior Water Resilience Specialist, and Vivek Raman, Principal Urban Development Specialist from the Asian Development Bank, about the Asian Water Development Outlook (AWDO) 2025 , which assesses 50 Asia-Pacific economies across five key dimensions of water security. They highlight ADB’s role and position the r...

In this episode of Exec Exchange, host Piers Clark interviews Erik Harvey, Strategic Program Development Director at WaterAid. They discuss Erik's career journey in the water sector to international aid, WaterAid's mission, and the impact of international aid on water and sanitation projects. Erik shares insights on the challenges of maintaining water infrastructure, the importance of building loc...

In this episode of the Exec Exchange podcast, host Piers Clark speaks with Bordin Udol, Chief Executive of East Water in Bangkok, about safeguarding water security in Thailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), a key economic zone spanning three provinces. Bordin shares his 30-year career journey from designing Bangkok wastewater systems to leading East Water, which manages the full water lifecycl...

In this episode of the Exec Exchange, host Piers Clark speaks with Damian Wells, Managing Director of Coliban Water in Australia, about how a regional water utility prepares for and responds to extreme bushfire events amid worsening climate volatility. Damian describes Coliban Water’s operational challenges of maintaining services across a large geography. The discussion covers the boom-and-bust c...

In this episode of the Exec Exchange, Piers Clark engages with Frank Rogalla, Director of Innovation and Technology at Aqualia, to explore the unique strategy Frank has implemented to run an innovation department in a modern water utility. Frank shares his journey from meeting Piers 30 years ago, highlights his career trajectory, and describes how he built Aqualia's innovation team from scratch. T...

In this episode of the Exec Exchange podcast, host Piers Clark speaks with Glen Abrams, Head of Public Affairs at the Philadelphia Water Department. The discussion centers around the innovative 'Wingo-WHAT?' initiative , which aims to creatively engage the community of Germantown, Philadelphia, to address infrastructure-related flooding using art and poetry. Glen shares his journey in the water se...

In this episode of the Exec Exchange podcast, host Piers Clark speaks with Wim Drossaert, Chief Executive of Dunea in The Netherlands. They discuss Wim's career transition from consultancy to leading a water utility. The conversation covers topics such as water resilience, quality, and the geopolitical challenges impacting the water sector globally. Wim shares insights into Dunea's operations, inc...

In this episode of Exec Exchange, host Piers Clark interviews Ian Waghorn, the Principal Environmental Water Engineer at Gatwick Airport. Ian shares his unconventional career path to the water sector and provides an in-depth look into the complexities of water management at the Gatwick airport. Key topics include managing deicer fluid, flood risks, and the airport's decade of change initiative. Ia...

In this episode of Exec Exchange, host Piers Clark converses with Matt Clemson, Division President at Oldcastle Infrastructure, USA. They discuss the journey of Oldcastle from being a traditional concrete and pipe company to a holistic water infrastructure solution provider. Matt shares his career background, the challenges and opportunities faced by Oldcastle, and the integration of digital solut...

In this episode of the Exec Exchange podcast, host Piers Clark welcomes back Jocot de Dios, Chief Executive at Manila Water. Jocot reflects on his four-year tenure, discussing his hands-on management style and his focus on both business achievements and sustainability goals. He highlights significant accomplishments, including elevated water narratives in the Philippines, record financial performa...