Karen Pallansch

Karen Pallansch is a member of the 2012-2013 Board of Trustees for the Water Environment Federation (WEF), an international organization of water quality professionals headquartered in Alexandria, Va.

Karen is the the chief executive officer of Alexandria Renew Enterprises. Prior to that she was General Manager at the Alexandria (Va.) Sanitation Authority, an independent government agency that provides wastewater treatment services to approximately 119,000 city customers and wholesale services to portions of Fairfax County, Va. In that role, she ws responsible for the overall accountability of the operations, maintenance, fiscal, regulatory and personnel functions of the public utility.

Karen also has worked for the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality and as a civilian employee with the Department of Army’s Production Base Modernization Activity in NJ.

A WEF member since 1994, Karen has held multiple leadership and committee roles within the Federation. She has served on the Utility Management Committee, the Public Communications Committee and the Utility Management Conference for many years, chairing both the Utility Management Conference Committee and the Facilities Subcommittee in Utility Management.  As a current member of the Government Affairs Committee, she recently led the newly reformulated Legislative Policy Subcommittee.

Also an active member of the Virginia Water Environment Association, Karen has chaired several committees including Strategic Planning, Public Relations, and Annual meeting, before moving through the chairs and serving as President.

Her other professional affiliations include serving on the National Association of Clean Water Agencies’ Board of Directors, being a past member and Chair of the Water Environment Research Foundation’s Research Council and serving on the board for the Virginia Municipal League Insurance Pool.

Karen is a registered professional engineer in the state of Virginia, a Board Certified Environmental Engineer, and Licensed Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator – Virginia Class I. She received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh, and an M.S. in Business Management from East Texas State University.