The Water Entrepreneur

Bhavik Barochia Dr Bhavik Barochia is a Digital Water Consultant and global strategist specializing in the integration of digital solutions across the water and health sectors. With a PhD in microbialgenetics and expertise in AI-driven biological data analysis, he leads innovative publichealth surveillance projects, focusing on wastewater-based epidemiology andenvironmental monitoring. Dr Barochia...

Arian Edalat, Co-Founder & CEO at Active Membranes Arian Edalat is a chemical engineer and an award winning water tech entrepreneur. He has a Ph. D. from University of Bradford in UK and two decades of experience in design, engineering, construction, operations, maintenance, troubleshooting and optimization of industrial and municipal membrane-based water treatment processes as well… Mor...

Ralph Exton Ralph Erik Exton became the Executive Director of the Water Environment Federation on July 15, 2024, and serves as Secretary of the WEF Board of Trustees and a member of the 2024-25 Board of Trustees. He joined WEF from Grundfos, where he served as the water utility vice president and chief marketing officer.… More

Dave Russell Dave Russell’s career has been in the non-destructive testing field since leaving school in the U.K. (grad 1964 with 3 A-levels). Dave holds CGSB Level-III Radiography, Level-II Ultrasonic and Level-1 Eddy Current, plus ASNT Level-III in the same disciplines. In 2017 I achieved MBA degree, Export award and Business Leadership award. Dave currently owns… More

Michael Connett Michael Connett is a partner at Siri & Glimstad LLP with extensive civil litigation experiencein both the personal injury and regulatory arenas. Mr. Connett’s civil practice is focused on obtaining justice for individuals harmed by corporate negligence, misguided medical practices, and overreaching government mandates. He has successfully represented individuals and families wh...

Chris Miller, Founder and CEO, Fontus Blue Dr. Miller is an accomplished academic and experienced consultantand business owner founder (Fontus Blue) with technical expertise in drinking water operations integration including treatment plant-treatment process optimization, water quality modeling (plant and distribution system), distribution system optimization, and decision support system developme...

Paul O’Callaghan Paul O’Callaghan is a aater scientist, sustainability thought leader and documentary producer, who believes the global water crisis can be solved in his lifetime and he is on a mission to helpmake it happen. After being awarded a bio-chemistry degree, Paul’s first role was for the Body Shop workingalongside the pioneering environmentalist Anita Roddick.… More

Thomas Fudge Dr. Thomas Fudge is the CEO & Founder at WASE: I specialize in strategic sustainable development and water management for new and existing infrastructure. I founded WASE in 2017 to tackle the global sanitation crisis where we are developing containerized wastewater treatment systems to create biogas, clean water and fertilizer for agriculture. The… More

Lauren Roth Venu 3Rwater, Inc. was formed in 2019 to increase access to water management solutions. Founder Lauren Roth Venu is an ecopreneur, a TEDx speaker, and a published author, who is passionate about developing innovative, nature-based solutions to build climate resiliency. While doing her undergraduate at the University of Colorado at Boulder in water… More

Russell Schindler ALBERT “RUSSELL” SCHINDLER, P.G. PROFESSIONAL SUMMARYOver 37 years of experience developing, implementing and managing a wide variety of environmental projects and programs including; soil and groundwater remediation projects using various types of remediation, implementation of chemical, liquid waste, hazardous waste, and solid waste management programs and procedures, hydrogeol...

Peter Yolles Peter Yolles is the managing partner at Echo River Capital, a venture capital firm that he founded in 2021 to invest in software-enabled water and wastewater technologies that improve human health, the environment, and climate resilience. With an MBA from Yale School of Management and a Master’s Degree in Water Science, Management and… More

Max Spanier Former Marketo AE turned GTM Recruiter – Helping Hiring Managers Achieve Pipeline Goals #𝗠𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗠𝗮𝘅 Max Spanier is the owner of Sloane Staffing. Max started his business because his former customers struggled to find talent. While working for Adobe, during his meetings with potential new clients, and every one of his customers asked the… More

Inês Lousinha Ribeiro Breda Inês is the Host of Finding Water Podcast and the Senior Manager of Global Partnerships and Alliances at GRUNDFOS. Inês is passionate about all things water and on a mission to make a splash in the industry. She has a strong background in water treatment and a focus on building strategic partnerships. Inês… More

Tom Kennedy Tom Kennedy has been working in the public and private areas of water and wastewater since the late ’80s in various capacities. His primary experience is in the management of water and wastewater agencies with detailed experience in all aspects of these organizations. If you ask around, you will learn that Tom is… More

Robbert Lodewijks Robbert is an enthusiastic entrepreneur, who is cheerful, social, and gets excited about challenges related to managing innovations and people. He loves to use his mechanical engineering background and interest in innovations within a more people-orientated leadership role. With a Masters degree in Business Administration, a lot of learning experience at Acquaint, the… More

Andrew and Teisha Vandekop Andrew Vandekop, Inventor | CEO  Andrew began his career in robotics engineering and sold his first patent at age 29. He’s been in new product development his entire career and has applied these skills to three additional patents. During the time he spent field testing the Well Water Finders prototype, he served as a… More

Steve Cavanaugh and Drew Blackwell Steve Cavanaugh, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cavanaugh & Associates, P.A. When it comes to engineering, Steve Cavanaugh believes building a solid, firm foundation is critical to the long-term success of both people and infrastructures. A creative visionary with an unshakeable dedication to environmental stewardship and preservation, Steve combine...

Asaf Pras Asaf Pras is the co-founder and CTO of DataPond. He leads the development of AI-based water quality sensors to monitor e fecal coliforms and other pollutants in drinking water sources. DataPond’s sensors use a novel method that applies a deep neural network model to give a binary answer for the presence or absence… More

Chris Macdonald Chris MacDonald is the President and CEO of CPM Pipelines. He has 25 years of experience providing specification and design support for consultants and clients. Recent partnerships include Acquaint Technologies from the Netherlands and BulletLiner SystemTM for trenchless pipe rehabilitation. CPM’s mission is to deliver innovative, best in class products and services while prio...

Veronika Zhiteneva Dr. Veronika Zhiteneva is an environmental engineer specializing in water and wastewater treatment. She obtained her BS from the University of Maryland, College Park, and her MS from at the Colorado School of Mines. In 2016 she began her doctorate work in the risk assessment of water reuse systems under the supervision of Prof.… More

Fred Adjarian Fred Adjarian was appointed to the Board of Directors of the El Toro Water District (ETWD) in September 2023 and is currently serving as a Director. Mr. Adjarian was previously elected to the ETWD Board of Directors in 2014 and served through 2018. Mr. Adjarian’s educational accomplishments include a Bachelor of Arts degree… More

Fabio Hüther Fabio Hüther, founder of Umuntu and Evodrop, contracted bone cancer at the age of eight with a 50% survival probability. The positive development of his recovery strengthened his desire to contribute to society and environment. As a teenager, at the age of fourteen, Fabio founded his first NGO, Bee The Change, in order… More

Rebecca Shanahan Rebecca Shanahan is the Interim Executive Director of WaterStart. Prior to joining WaterStart in 2013, Rebecca spent 14 years working on water resources management issues for the Southern Nevada Water Authority gaining an intimate perspective of the challenges in obtaining, treating, and delivering consistently high-quality water to a growing community. While at SNWA,… More

Priyanca Ford Priyanca Ford is the Founder and CEO of Kronos Fusion Energy. Kronos Fusion Energy is dedicated to pioneering the commercialization of fusion energy, and Priyanca Ford has been instrumental in designing the fusion energy simulation and algorithm tools to help expedite global fusion energy timelines. In this whitepaper, we explore Priyanca Ford’s contributions… More

Shane Snyder Dr. Shane Snyder is a Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering and is the Executive Director of the Nanyang Environment & Water Research Institute (NEWRI) at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. For over 20 years, Dr. Snyder’s research has focused on water quality, treatment, and sustainability, which resulted in over 300 published manuscripts… More