Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
The Water Environment Federation (WEF) maintains diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as core principles of our organization’s mission. Our members, Board of Trustees (BOT), volunteer leaders, and staff together and individually share responsibility to uphold these principles.
WEF Commits to Valuing Unique Identities
We are committed to creating an organization that acknowledges and celebrates our unique differences including education, career background, age, gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, ability status, accent, socioeconomic status, cultural heritage and religion, parental status, marital status, veteran, personality type, political perspective, and all other characteristics of DE&I.
DEI Resources DEI Leaders WEF Demographic
Dashboard How We Began DEI News DEI at WEFTEC
In October 2024, the WEF Board of Trustees approved an updated DEI Policy. This new version improves our definitions of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion while also providing distinct roles and expectations to support DEI within WEF Governance and Administrative Bodies (including the Community Leadership Council and WEF Leadership Staff).
WEF InFlow
This program aims to enhance diversity and inclusion in the water workforce.
More about WEF InFlow Program
More DEI Resources
WEF has created a series of downloads to help frame the DEI conversation and provide additional context and insights into different aspects of DEI.
Download the Entire Compendium
WEF's DEI Leaders
Board of Trustees DEI Committee
- Chair: Andrea Hall, ThermoFisher Scientific
- Vice Chair: Amber Lefers, AE2S
- Amy Baker, City of Glendale, Arizona
- Kari Brisolara, Louisiana State University
- Erika Crespo, Texas Commission of Environmental Quality
- Laura Gallindo, Grundfos
- Anthony Giovannone, Google
- Shawn Heselton, Hampton Roads Sanitation District
- Kahao Lim, Stantec
- Brianne Nakamura, Xylem
- ValaRae Partee, Brown and Caldwell
- Maria Claudia Rubio, Fairfax County
- Hugh Sinclair, Arcadis
- Vishal Vaidyanathan, Mott MacDonald
- Walt Walker, Greeley and Hansen
- Keith Hobson, WEF Board of Trustees
- Corey Williams, WEF Board of Trustees
- Steve Hamai, WEF staff
- Laura Herman, WEF staff
- Micah Tsoi, WEF staff
House of Delegates DEI Committee
- Amy Baker, Chair, AZ Water Association
- James Hawthorne, Vice Chair, Delegate-at-Large
- Scott Foley, Delegate-at-Large
- Ellen Frketic, Chesapeake WEA
- ValaRae Partee, Delegate-at-Large
- Scott Aurit, Speaker-Elect
- Kelsey Hurst, WEF Staff
WEF Demographic Dashboard
From this point forward WEF will share selected demographic information on the Board of Trustees, Community Leadership Council, and staff with a future goal to include the House of Delegates.
Tracking and sharing this data regarding our leadership is a noted best practice among many sectors and companies, including government organizations. We will add to and update this dashboard in the first quarter of every calendar year.
For questions, please contact Steve Hamai, WEF Senior Director of Culture & Belonging (shamai@wef.org).
Gender
Race
Dashboard data was obtained from the US Census (2020), WEF’s Member Database (2023) and WEF’s Human Resources Office (2023).
DEI Definitions
Diversity, equity, and inclusion are not mutually exclusive and the success of one is dependent on the other two. Therefore, these three are intentionally connected. We believe that starting with shared and clear definitions for these topics will enable us to better understand each other and make progress toward our goals.
Diversity
Diversity encompasses the varying experiences, strengths, skills, perspectives, personal characteristics, cultures, and backgrounds represented by and within the WEF community.
Equity
A commitment to equity means an environment where everyone has the opportunity and access to realize their full potential, and no-one is disadvantaged because of their group identity or other socially determined circumstance.
How We Began
In August 2019, WEF initiated its DEI work through the formation of the Workforce Diversity and Inclusion Task Force. This task force provided over 50 recommendations for improving diversity in the water sector and stressed the importance of internal reflection.
In 2020, WEF took further steps by establishing a DEI Board of Trustees Subcommittee, a House of Delegates DE&I Work Group, and a Staff Working Group on Racial Equity. In 2021, these groups were made permanent committees, solidifying the organization's long-term commitment to DEI.
In 2020, WEF also reviewed and reaffirmed its Non-Discrimination and Harassment Policy to ensure an inclusive environment.
Staying Focused on Our Mission During Times of Change
As a global institution, WEF stays closely connected with our members, markets, customers, stakeholders, and governments, especially during periods of transition, ...
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InFLOW 2024 Scholars Celebrate Program Completion at WEFTEC Ceremony
The InFLOW 2024 scholars completed their program with a ceremony at WEFTEC on Tuesday, October 8th. This year we had a total of 48 scholars between the two tracks.
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