Water Leadership Institute Announces Participants for 2025
The Water Environment Federation (WEF) is proud to announce the new participants for the Water Leadership Institute (WLI) 2025. This prestigious program is designed to educate, train, and provide opportunities that enable developing and emerging leaders to build strong, lasting relationships within the water sector.
WLI participants are selected via a competitive application process. The program continues to grow, and for the first time in 2024, WLI had two parallel cohorts to ensure the class size was small enough to maintain the integrity of the program while still expanding. The WLI Class of 2025 will follow the same pattern.
"We're really excited to be able to host two parallel cohorts this year," said Julianne Jones, WEF’s senior manager of education and training. "With the interest in the program growing, we found a way to expand the program and keep the cohorts small to encourage more networking."
The WLI Class of 2025 includes 84 water professionals, representing 27 states, Canada, New Zealand and Nigeria. This group marks the 13th class of graduates. To date, WLI has helped more than 580 alumni gain the key skills, strategies, and confidence they need to lead meaningful change in their organizations and in the water sector.
"Participating in the WLI program has been a massive highlight of my professional career to date and is something that I strongly recommend to anyone in the water sector wanting to increase their leadership skills and expand their professional network," said Sean Trainor, a 2022 WLI graduate. For more information, visit the Water Leadership Institute page.
Blue Cohort
| Participant | Organization |
|---|---|
| Aaron Rice | City of Grand Junction |
| Abhishek Sharda | Brown & Caldwell |
| Afiya Wilkins | Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality |
| Andrew Barbeau | DuPage County |
| Andrew Beatty | Loudoun Water |
| Andrew Hummel | Burns & McDonnell |
| Bennett Parsons | The Water Research Foundation |
| Bianca Milano | Aquarion Water Company |
| Brian Bilodeau | The Metropolitan District |
| Brigit Buff | Plummer Associates, Inc. |
| Caitlin Ruff | Black & Veatch |
| Chad Whiting | Massachusetts Water Resource Authority |
| Charles "Beau" Howard | Inframark |
| Christa Cook | Global Support and Development |
| Cody Schoepke | City of Fond du Lac - (Fond du Lac Regional Wastewater Treatment & Resource Recovery Facility (WTRRF)) |
| Curtis Huey | Mechanicsburg Waste Water Treatment Plant |
| Daniela Lopez | RJN Group |
| David Gisborn | DC Water |
| Eric Nash | PCL Construction, Inc. |
| Holly Fraychineaud | Pontchartrain Conservancy |
| Jackie Kingdom | Carollo Engineers |
| Jan Nowak | Xylem |
| Janet Frost | OWASA |
| Jared Bond | City of Lynnwood |
| Jeffrey Hlad | Metro Water Recovery |
| Jissell Muir | Arcadis U.S., Inc. |
| Joanna Ibrahim | Olokun Minerals |
| Jordan Lewis | NC Department of Environmental Quality |
| JP Birmingham | Plante Moran Realpoint |
| Kathryn Serra | C.T. Male Associates |
| Kwasi Amengor | University of Calgary |
| Lisa Mace | BecaJ |
| Maygan Cline | Geosyntec Consultants |
| Melissa Pierce | Current Innovation, NFP |
| Michael Rodriguez | Inland Empire Utilities Agency |
| Mike Hess | HRSD |
| Nick Lewis | Gannett Fleming |
| Nikki Ong | Carollo Engineers |
| Riese Rubin | Water Environment Federation |
| RJ Tyson | Kankakee River Metropolitan Agency |
| Sara Sietsema | City of Willmar |
| Sian Bashkiroff | City of Oxnard |
Green Cohort
| Participant | Organization |
|---|---|
| Alexis Kontorousis | Johnson Controls |
| Andre Miller | City of Sanford |
| Andrew Brocato | GreenPoint Engineering |
| Andy Doerflinger | STV Inc |
| Angel French | City of Watertown PCF |
| Annie Cashon | Burns & McDonnelll |
| Arisbeth Ibarra Nieblas | Trinity River Authority of Texas |
| Ashley Voskuhl | Water Environment Federation |
| Barbara Arnold | Lower Allen Township |
| Ben Cario | Arcadis, U.S. |
| Bethel Abate | DC Water |
| Brad Schmitz | Loudoun Water |
| Brandon Scurto | Northern Moraine Water Reclamation District |
| Carson Knutson | City of Vacaville |
| Casey Johnson | Anna-Jonesboro Water Commission |
| Courtney Thomas | Black & Veatch |
| Demi Ladipo-Obasa | DC Water |
| Ed Makowski | Inland Empire Utilities Agency |
| Elaine Leonard | HDR |
| Emma Housman | Xylem |
| Farshid Shoushtarian | Yokogawa |
| Hunter Nelson | LabWare Global Services |
| Jay Essatu | WSSCWater |
| Jayla Berry | North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality |
| Jenna Troppman | Tetra Tech |
| Jens Dancer | Gross-Wen Technologies |
| Juan Guzmán | CDPHE/WQCD |
| Juliana Mejia-Franco | SENTRY Water Monitoring and Control |
| Kabir "K- Water" Atobatele | Nigerian Youth Parliament for Water |
| Krysten Marshall | Garver |
| Lenai Hunter | Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District |
| Lindsay Diaz | GHD |
| Madeleine Harris | Eagle River Water & Sanitation District |
| Miguel Sibayan | Imagine H2O Asia |
| Mike Firestone | Mount Pleasant Waterworks |
| Peter Pommersheim | South Essex Sewerage District |
| Powell Hinson | Carollo Engineers |
| Rachel Chai | University of South Alabama |
| Sam Broadnax | Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans |
| Shawn Lin | Geosyntec Consultants |
| Steve Mosley | Industrial Flow Solutions |
| Tammy West | Austin Water-City of Austin |
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