CWE Summit Program

This 2.5-day program features a pre-Summit resource recovery deep dive and four distinct sessions aligning with the value proposition and business case of the circular water economy.

Industrial Water Use: Future State vs. Current Reality Making the Business Case for a Circular Water Economy Circular Water Systems: Real-World Examples A Framework for Resource Recovery

Information as of July 14

Tuesday, July 18, 2023 | 1:00 – 6:30 p.m.

Pre-Summit Resource Recovery Deep Dive

Seeking additional engagement opportunities at the Summit? WEF has added two deep-dive discussions to the pre-summit programming for those seeking to expand your knowledge on the opportunities and challenges that surround product quality and market-making for recovered resources.

Maximizing Recovery Opportunities | 1:00 p.m.

Explore research, processes, and real-world examples that focus on product quality through avoidance of nonrenewable materials in production and downstream contamination of valuable recovered resources.

Contact Maile Lono-Batura, if you’d like to attend.

Market Making for Recovered Resources with AquaMinerals | 2:30 p.m.

Learn about the opportunities available to utilities seeking to embody the resource recovery center model. Created nearly 30 years ago to solve a ‘waste problem', AquaMinerals soon realized these resources were not a waste, nor a problem. Learn how AquaMinerals helped to pioneer circularity and build demand and revenue for recovered resources.

Contact Barry Liner, if you’d like to attend.

Evening Welcome Reception | 5:00 – 6:30 p.m.

To kick off the inaugural CWE Summit, join us for a welcome reception with sustainability executives, decision-makers, and thought leaders from companies and municipalities that are successfully turning waste streams into value streams.

Wednesday, July 19, 2023 | 8:00 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.

Session 1: Industrial Water Use: Future State vs. Current Reality
8:00 a.m. – Noon

Many businesses want to move toward a more sustainable approach to water use. To make this transition, decision-makers need to recognize how the circular water economy is already taking shape. We also need to understand how this transformation will affect our businesses, our communities, and the environment.

Welcome to the Circular Water Economy Summit | 8:00 a.m.

Ifetayo Venner, Arcadis, WEF President
Emilio Tenuta, Ecolab

rePurpose Global | 8:15 a.m.

Candice Lawton

Recovering Resource: AquaMinerals Shows It Can Be Done, How Did They Do It? | 8:35 a.m.

Olaf van der Kolk, AquaMinerals

Walmart | 8:55 a.m.

Toni McCrory

Facilitated Panel of three speakers | 9:15 a.m.

Candice Lawton, rePurpose Global
Olaf van der Kolk, AquaMinerals
Toni McCrory, Walmart
Facilitated by Emilio Tenuta, Ecolab

Facilitated Panel – Municipal Effluent Reuse | 10:30 a.m.

Alan Burghart, CHS
Anthony Giovannone, Google
Facilitated by Lucy Pugh, AECOM

WEF Innovators' Showcase | 11:30 a.m. - noon

As a special addition to the Circular Water Economy Summit program, a few innovative startups have been selected based on their award-winning Circular Water Economy-related technologies including the 2023 Fast Company World Changing Idea Award, Imagine H2O Accelerator, BlueTech Forum Blue Truffle Award, Consumer Electronics Show, and more. Brief overviews will be provided during lunch on the first day to ensure that attendees get the opportunity to talk directly with the innovators.

Facilitated by Maile Lono-Batura (WEF), the showcase features the following:

• Epic Cleantec (Fast Company World Changing Idea Winner 2023, Imagine H2O Accelerator 2020)
• Aquacycl (Imagine H2O Accelerator 2018)
• Infinite Cooling (Imagine H2O Accelerator 2019)
• AInwater (Imagine H2O Accelerator 2023, UNLEASH Plus 2021)
• GWT (Imagine H2O Accelerator 2021)

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Session 2: Making the Business Case for a Circular Water Economy
1:15 – 5:00 p.m.

Responsible businesses have progressed from solely focusing on the bottom line to considering the triple-bottom-line of sustainability. Many companies are making an intentional shift to integrating a circular water economy into the business-as-usual model.

How did we get here? What were the drivers? What are the risks? What’s next? And what do businesses need to consider as they prepare for the next 10 years? Hear from professionals who have made water circularity a central part of their business.

Session Welcome | 1:15 p.m.

Jamie Eichenberger, HDR, WEF Immediate Past President
Emilio Tenuta, Ecolab

PepsiCo pep+ Circular Water Goals, Tactics & Results in Beverage Manufacturing | 1:35 p.m.

Michael Waitek, PepsiCo

Accelerating the Water Reuse Revolution in Real Estate | 1:55 p.m.

Aaron Tartakovsky, Epic Cleantec

Facilitated Panel – Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable | 2:15 p.m.

Matthew Blandford, Beam Suntory
Erica Pann, Antea Group
Facilitated by Andy Battjes, Brown-Forman

World Cafe | 3:45 p.m.

At small roundtables facilitated by table leads, participants will discuss the following:

• Use Cases: Sharing CWE success stories across the represented industries (automotive; manufacturing; food and beverage processing; pulp, paper, and packaging; oil, gas, and energy)
• Contaminants: How are these industries addressing contaminants in our water systems? What is promising and where do we need to continue to improve?
  
  

Networking Reception | 5:00 - 6:30 p.m.

Thursday, July 20, 2023 | 8:00am – 3:30pm

Session 3: Circular Water Systems: Real-World Examples
8:00 – 11:45 a.m.

Mission-driven initiatives require aligning goals, people, and available resources. Our speakers will share how their companies reimagined operational water sustainability, developing and deploying the innovations necessary for responsible water management. Panels will dig deeper into how this plays out in the field and discuss the critical role of funding.

Session Welcome | 8:00 a.m.

Shellie Chard, OklahomaDepartment of Environmental Quality, WEF Board of Trustees
Rob Simm, Stantec
Emilio Tenuta, Ecolab

Toyota Motor North America | 8:15 a.m.

Kevin Butt

Facilitated Panel – Israeli Tech Perspective on Water Supply, Reuse, and Agriculture as Part of CWE | 8:35 a.m.

Tomer Efrat, IDE Water Assets
Itamar Nadav, Netafim Agronomy
Ari Veltman, WFI Group
Facilitated by Omer Bab, Israeli Embassy to the U.S.

Facilitated Panel – Funding Water Circularity | 9:30 a.m.

Arthine Cossey van Duyne, WaterFunder, LLC
Brian Cullen, VICO Infrastructure Company, LLC
Andy Kingman, Cambrian Innovation
Zach Gallagher, Natural Systems Utilities
Facilitated by Caleb Powers, Ember Infrastructure

Facilitated Panel – Challenges and Case Studies in Pulp and Paper Wastewater Treatment | 11:00 a.m.

George Patrick, Arcadis
John Michael Corn, AquAeTer, Inc.
Facilitated by Chris Luettgen, The Alliance for Pulp & Paper Technology Innovation

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Session 4: A Framework for Resource Recovery
1:15 – 3:30 p.m.

It can be extremely challenging to move from a linear systems approach to a circular one. Progressing from an emphasis on finite resources requires critical analysis and a realistic perspective. This final session concentrates on resource recovery and the actions necessary to redefine norms around circular water systems.

Welcome and Introductions | 1:15 p.m.

Aimee Killeen, Providence Engineering and Environmental Group, LLC, WEF President-Elect
Rob Simm, Stantec

NYC DEP | 1:35 p.m.

Jane Gajwani

Facilitated Panel – Drivers for Water Circularity Targets | 1:55 p.m.

Sarah O'Sell, GE Digital
Susan Herman, Black & Veatch
Facilitated by Matthew Howard, The Water Council

Roundtable Follow-up and Call to Action | 2:30 p.m.

Austin Alexander, Xylem

Final Thoughts / Where We Go from Here | 3:00 p.m.

Ifetayo Venner, Arcadis, WEF President
Aimee Killeen, Providence Engineering and Environmental Group, LLC, WEF President-Elect
Jamie Eichenberger, HDR, WEF Immediate Past President

Summit Adjourns | 3:30 p.m.

FEATURED SPEAKERS

Speakers and sponsors will focus on their stories and the solutions they have found.

• Toni McCrory, Walmart
• Kevin Butt, Toyota Motor North America
• Arthine Cossey van Duyne, WaterFunder LLC
• Brian Cullen, VICO Infrastructure Company LLC
• Andy Kingman, Cambrian Innovation
• Caleb Powers, Ember Infrastructure
• Emilio Tenuta, Ecolab
• Zach Gallagher, Natural Systems Utilities
• Lucy Pugh, AECOM
• Alan Burghart, CHS
• Candice Lawton, rePurpose Global
• Olaf van der Kolk, AquaMinerals
• Anthony Giovanonne, Google
• Erica Pann, Antea Group
• Andy Battjes, Brown-Forman
• Christopher Luettgen, The Alliance for Pulp & Paper Technology Innovation
• John Michael Corn, AquAeTer Inc.
• George Patrick, Arcadis
• Matthew Blandford, Beam Suntory
• Austin Alexander, Xylem
• Tomer Efrat, IDE Water Technologies
• Itamar Nadav, Netafim Agronomy
• Jane Gajwani, NYC DEP
• Michael Waitek, Pepsico
• Ari Veltman, WFI Group
• Aaron Tartakovsky, Epic Cleantec
• Sarah O’Sell, GE Digital
• Matthew Howard, The Water Council
• Rob Simm, Stantec
• Susan Herman, Black & Veatch
• Omer Bab, Israeli Embassy to the U.S.

Toni McCrory, Senior Director, Walmart Environmental, Health, and Safety Compliance
Toni oversees water and automotive compliance programs for Walmart’s U.S. facilities. Toni has developed, implemented and refined national programs by generating innovative compliance solutions for performance-based contract management, predictive analytics for asset management, and digital transformation. She leads the Walmart Environmental Center of Excellence, focused on building relationships across markets to raise awareness of best practices and strengthen Walmart’s environmental compliance programs globally. Toni is a Northwest Arkansas native with a B.S. in Biological and Agricultural Engineering, University of Arkansas, and Master of Business Administration, John Brown University.

Kevin Butt, Senior Director of Environmental Sustainability  for Toyota’s North American Environmental Sustainability Programs
He is responsible for the development of Environmental Sustainability Programs and related Regulatory/ Legislative development for all of Toyota’s North American operations.

Prior to his current assignment, Kevin was the General Manger/Chief Environmental and Safety Officer for Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing for all of Toyota’s Manufacturing operations. Prior to that assignment, he was the Assistant General Manager of Body Production Engineering for Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America, Inc., (TMMNA). He is responsible for Body Engineering for all Toyota’s North American manufacturing operations. Body Engineering consists of Welding, Stamping, and Painting Operations.

Arthine Cossey van Duyne, Aspen Climate Policy Fellow and founder of WaterFunder, LLC
Arthine provides solutions to advance water equity and corporate water stewardship. She has global management experience in the public, private, government, academic, start-up, and non-profit industry sectors. She has crafted and implemented growth and expansion strategies for development banks, foreign direct investment agencies, water utilities, capital markets firms, and Silicon Valley tech giants. Arthine is an Army veteran having held roles in data management, military intelligence, and civil affairs. She has an Economics BA from UC Davis and an MBA from IMD in Switzerland.

Brian Cullen, President & CEO of VICO Infrastructure Company LLC
Brian co-founded VICO, a firm specializing in the creative development and efficient management of large-scale infrastructure projects, in 2018 to leverage his experience, his industry relationships and innovative approaches to infrastructure developed over his 28-year career.

Prior to co-founding VICO, Brian was the President, Board member, and shareholder of PERC Water Corporation for 17 years. He was instrumental in completing over 20 mid-sized water infrastructure projects valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Most notably, Brian led the Santa Paula, California public-private partnership project, the first 100% privately funded project of its kind in the U.S.

Andrew Kingman, Chief Financial Officer and commercial contract lead for Cambrian Innovation Inc.
Andy has 30 years of experience in large-scale infrastructure project development across the water, energy, and industrial services space. Cambrian is a leading turnkey provider of mission-critical distributed water and energy recovery infrastructure as a service to industrial and private municipal customers.

Andy also spent 20 years at Poseidon Water. As the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer there, he led the contract negotiations and sourcing of EPC contractors, principal suppliers, operators, and capital providers for multiple water infrastructure projects (totaling $1.5B in capital) in North America including the $900MM Carlsbad Seawater Desalination Project (first large-scale seawater desalination project in California) and the $150MM Tampa Bay Seawater Desalination Project (first large scale seawater desalination project in the U.S.) and five industrial water treatment projects for PEMEX (national oil company of Mexico).

Caleb Powers, Principal of Ember Infrastructure
Caleb sits on the Investment Committee at Ember, which is a sustainability focused private equity firm investing in companies and assets that reduce carbon intensity, increase resource efficiency, and enhance climate resilience. The fund is active in the low-carbon energy, water & wastewater, waste, and agricultural & industrial sectors.

Caleb is responsible for all phases of investment activities including origination and structuring, due diligence, deal execution, and portfolio monitoring.

Prior to Ember, Caleb was a Vice President at The Carlyle Group, where he led investment activities in the water and waste sectors, with additional transaction experience in the energy and agriculture sectors, for Carlyle’s Global Infrastructure Opportunity Fund.

Until 2018, Caleb was a Vice President with Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) in New York as a member of the investment team. Prior to joining GIP in 2012, Caleb worked in the Natural Resources Group at Deutsche Bank in New York, focusing on the power, utilities, and renewable energy sectors.

Emilio Tenuta, Senior Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer, Ecolab
For the past 11 years, Emilio has led Ecolab’s strategic sustainability journey and is actively involved in advancing global sustainability practices, with a significant focus on water stewardship and climate action.

In recent years, he’s become a leader in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices and reporting. Partnering with investor relations and Ecolab’s Chief Executive Officer, Emilio has advanced Ecolab’s reputation as an ESG-leading company. He is chair of the board of directors of the World Environment Center, a global non-profit, non-advocacy organization. Emilio is also on the leadership council of the Corporate Eco Forum.

Zach F. Gallagher, PE, LEED-AP, President & COO, Natural Systems Utilities
With almost 40 years of innovation and leadership in the water industry NSU operates one of the largest bases of natural treatment and direct water reuse systems in the U.S. Zach has more than 20 years of experience with onsite water reuse systems, has been published by Forbes and serves as a guest lecturer on the subject at multiple universities across the country. He is past vice chair for the Board of Directors of the U.S. Green Building Council, NJ Chapter, and holds bachelor's and master's from Rutgers University in Bio-Resource and Civil/Environmental Engineering.

Lucy Pugh, P.E., BCEE, Technical Practice Director and Market Sector Leader for Industrial Water and Wastewater Treatment, AECOM
Lucy has developed and applied solutions to water and wastewater challenges in a broad range of industry sectors for more than 35 years.  Her experience includes process troubleshooting, treatability and pilot tests, design, construction, and operations support for the removal of both conventional and emerging pollutants through the application of biological and physical/chemical technologies. She is a member of AECOM's team that is developing and demonstrating DE-FLUORO^TM electrochemical technology for PFAS destruction and holds bachelor's and master's degrees in Environmental and Civil Engineering from the University of Michigan.

 

Alan Burghart, Process Engineering Supervisor, CHS
Alan began his professional career supervising and operating an industrial wastewater facility. From 1997 until 2007 Alan held numerous roles and positions within the specialty chemicals industry. In 2007 Alan joined CHS refinery at McPherson. Alan serves as process engineer for the utilities, amine and sour water units, hydrotreaters, and sulfur plant. Alan serves on the Board of Directors for the Equus Beds, Groundwater Management 2 District in Halstead Kansas. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Biology in 1993 and a Master of Science degree in 1995 from Fort Hays State University.

Candice Lawton, Senior Business Partnerships Manager, rePurpose Global
Candice is a creative and disruptive circular economy leader with 10 years of experience working at the intersection of business and sustainability. She works to create platforms that enable the recovery and interception of traditionally non-recoverable plastics from regions globally where plastic pollution (on land and in oceans) is highest – all while improving the livelihoods of those working with and being harmed by mismanaged waste.

Candice serves as the Treasurer on the board for the National Wildlife Federation’s Campus Race to Zero Waste and is a board and Sustainability Committee member for the Arrupe Center for Business Ethics at St. Joseph’s University. She has appeared as a sustainability expert on numerous panels and talks at institutions including the French-American Chamber of Commerce, Princeton University, Keep America Beautiful, Green Philly, and many more.

Olaf van der Kolk, CEO, AquaMinerals
Olaf studied Hydrology (2006) and later added an MBA (2010) to his CV. He worked his whole career finding and developing suitable destinations for secondary raw materials. First as a researcher, then as an account manager, and later as a business developer for a waste company. He started in 2011 at AquaMinerals, where his primary task was developing and maintaining pathways for residuals originating from water treatment (both drinking water as well as municipal wastewater). In 2016, he became CEO of AquaMinerals.

Anthony Giovanonne, Technical Program Manager for the Utility Infrastructure Strategy and Planning at Google
Anthony has over a decade of experience in the water utility sector. In his current role, he oversees the development of utility infrastructure to support Google Data Centers, collaborating with water and wastewater utility partners globally. Anthony’s team supports delivering projects to meet Google’s corporate sustainability goal of 120% water replenishment by 2030.

Anthony currently sits on the WEF Board of Trustees’ Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee and previously served as a WEF House of Delegate At-Large. Anthony actively volunteers in community-based water projects, having served as the 2017 WEF Service Project Chair. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Physics from Fordham University and a Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering from Northeastern University.

Erica Pann, EIT, CWEP, Senior Project Manager for Antea Group
Erica offers more than 7 years of experience in environmental engineering with a focus on water resources. She has experience working in sustainability, water stewardship, ESG strategy development, materiality assessments, and environmental health & safety projects. She has a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering, Engineering Science, and International Studies. Erica leads the Water Stewardship service line at Antea Group and is the Water Stewardship Lead for the Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable (BIER). She is a Certified Water Efficiency Professional (CWEP) through the Association of Energy Engineers and is an Accredited Specialist with the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS).

Andy Battjes, Director of Global Environmental Sustainability for Brown-Forman Corporation
Andy is responsible for leading environmental sustainability policies, partnerships, and programs and collaborating across all functions to lead the development and implementation of our company’s strategies and communications. This role drives and enables Brown-Forman’s goal of being a global leader in environmental sustainability in the beverage alcohol industry.

Andy is a graduate of the University of Michigan and has more than 28 years of experience in environmental compliance and sustainability. Currently, Andy represents Brown-Forman on the Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable, a technical coalition of leading global beverage companies working together to advance environmental sustainability within the beverage sector.

Christopher O. Luettgen, Ph.D., Executive Director of The Alliance for Pulp & Paper Technology Innovation
Christopher has more than 25 years of industry experience, with Scott Paper and Kimberly-Clark Corp., where he most recently served as head of North American Innovation the Kimberly-Clark Professional business sector. He has held positions in product development and innovation as well as in capital project management and manufacturing facility leadership.

For several years, he has served on the Georgia Tech Renewable Bioproducts Institute Industry Board of Advisors and as the Chairman of the Board of the Technical Association of the Pulp & Paper Industry (TAPPI).

He earned his Ph.D. in Surface Chemistry at the Institute of Paper Science and Technology, now the Renewable Bioproducts Institute at Georgia Tech. In 2014, he rejoined Georgia Tech as a Professor of the Practice in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Associate Director of Pulp, Paper, Tissue, and Packaging at RBI. He also serves as the Director of the undergraduate Pulp and Paper Certificate Program and its Foundation.

John Michael Corn, P.E, President of AquAeTer
John is experienced in environmental engineering. His current projects include water quality studies and modeling, hydraulic and hydrologic analyses, air emissions calculations and modeling, environmental litigation support, dispersion studies, groundwater investigations, geomorphologic analysis, wastewater treatment selection, bioaccumulation, and environmental site assessments. He has been involved in environmental sampling, bench and pilot-scale studies, groundwater tracer tests, site assessments for spill prevention control and countermeasures plans, total maximum load analyses studies, design of single-port and multi-port diffusers, statistical distribution analyses, emissions estimations for facility permitting, toxicity testing, surface water remediation, and project planning and budgeting.

George Patrick, P.E., Principal in Charge of Technical Leadership for the Industrial Water Division at Arcadis
George has more than 35 years of experience performing environmental and water/wastewater treatment projects. His focus has been on wastewater treatment, water reuse, water minimization, energy conservation, and waste-to-energy. George has been responsible for all aspects of project delivery, including treatability testing, detailed design, equipment procurement, construction, and start-up. He has worked on several zero-liquid discharge projects worldwide in industries ranging from pharmaceuticals to paper production.

Matthew Blandford, Senior Manager Climate and Water
Global Supply Chain at Beam Suntory
Matthew is responsible for Beam Suntory’s global Climate and Water programs, including the development of corporate strategy for water reduction, reuse, and replenishment activities as well as the integration of water circularity projects into business operations. This also includes risk management, technology assessment, and corporate culture development to drive the company’s global sustainability objectives.

Matthew is a graduate of the University of Louisville, earning a B.S. and M.Eng. in Chemical Engineering, and has more than 15 years of experience identifying and implementing emissions and water reduction projects. He also contributes to the Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable water workstream, sharing learnings and initiatives to drive collective, collaborative action in environmental sustainability.

Austin Alexander, Vice President of Sustainability and Social Impact at Xylem
Austin is responsible for Xylem’s global sustainability programs, ESG reporting, social impact, and client sustainability programs. This includes working towards Xylem Sustainability goals and commitments, which incorporate efforts to Build a Sustainable Company, Empower Communities, and Serve Customers.

She joined Xylem in 2013 and has had several roles including customer service, engineering, sales, and investor relations function. Throughout her tenure, she has been involved in volunteering and leading events through Xylem’s Watermark program.

Austin graduated from Gonzaga University with a bachelor’s degree in Engineering Management and received a master’s degree in Business Administration at Wake Forest University. She is currently based in Big Timber, Montana, USA.

Tomer Efrat, Vice President of Research and Development for IDE Water Technologies
Tomer has more than 20 years of background and experience in the water sector, including seawater desalination as well as water and wastewater treatment. Tomer has been with IDE since 2005, first as a process engineer and then serving in various technological and commercial roles, including Process Engineering Manager and Director of Business Development, leading IDE’s water treatment activity.

Tomer is an alum of Recanati Business School, Tel Aviv University, and he has an Executive MBA. He also holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Tel Aviv University.

Itamar Nadav, Ph. D., Head of Agronomic Research & Innovation at Netafim Agronomy
For the past 11 years, Itamar has worked as an agronomist at Netafim and led several research initiatives, in Israel and worldwide, such as digital farming, irrigation practices for crops, soil water modeling, irrigation with various sources of wastewater, and more. In addition to his role at Netafim, he also is a lecturer for irrigation sciences at three colleges in Israel, and recently was nominated as an inspector for the Israeli Innovation Authority, which evaluates and grants funding for life sciences start-ups in Israel. Itamar gained his Ph.D. in Soil & Water Sciences from the Faculty of Agriculture, Food, and Environment at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Jane Gajwani, P.E., Director Director of the Office of Energy and Resource Recovery Programs and the Agency Chief Decarbonization Officer for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection
Jane has more than 25 years of experience working in the intersection of water and energy. She and her group are tasked with plotting the course for the agency to achieve both carbon and energy neutrality. Prior to joining the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, she developed greenhouse gas and energy reduction strategies on the municipal, regional, and national levels within the water and waste sectors. She has both Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in Chemical Engineering from The Cooper Union.

 

Michael Waitek, Director of the Beverages North America Water Efficiency Program for Pepsico
Michael has been working in Corporate Sustainability at PepsiCo for 3 years and led Engineering, Maintenance, and Resource Conservation at a PepsiCo Manufacturing facility for 10 years prior to his current role. Michael and his team drive results in water and energy conservation by developing and implementing capital projects, and process improvements and driving a culture that prioritizes water efficiency and sustainability at manufacturing sites across North America. Michael has a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology from Purdue University.

Ari Veltman, Ph.D., Chief Business Officer for WFI Group

Ari is the Chief Business Officer of WFI Group, a group of innovation technologies focusing on economically viable, circular-economy/ reuse solutions in the water space, including ROTEC, TripleT, Toxsorb.

Ari recently joined the industry, bringing an open mind and a fresh perspective, based on his rich international business experience. His background includes multiple business leadership roles in Google’s offices in Ireland, Japan, and Singapore, and as the Financial Advisor to the Chief of Staff (IDF). In recent years, Ari has been supporting numerous startups in various industries on business strategy.

Ari graduated the Recanati Business School Magna Cum Laude, and holds a Ph.D. in Value and Decision Science from Tokyo Institute of Technology.

Aaron Tartakovsky, Co-Founder and CEO of Epic Cleantec
Prior to his career in sustainability, Aaron worked in federal politics and has remained active in affecting public policy on the local, state, and national levels. He speaks frequently on urban water management at universities and industry gatherings throughout the world and was recently named a 2023 World Economic Forum Top Innovator. Under Aaron’s leadership, Epic Cleantec, which is a leading water technology company based in San Francisco that deploys water reuse systems into the built environment, has achieved numerous accolades, including being named to Fast Company’s 2023 World Changing Ideas Awards and having Epic’s newly unveiled OneWater™ system named to TIME’s Best Inventions of 2022 list.

Sarah O’Sell, Sr. Marketing Manager with Digital at GE Vernova
Sarah’s experience spans manufacturing process and product innovation, market positioning, and investment advisory at startups and enterprise for consumer-packaged goods, clean tech hardware, and B2B software. She has been recognized as a Global 50 Woman in Sustainability, is a Forbes contributor, and is a featured expert on digital manufacturing in the Circular Economy for Dummies book. Community development, operations optimization, data-driven programs, and systems thinking are strengths she applies to her professional purpose for accelerating digital industry and sustainability. In her free time, she enjoys mentoring women in tech and impact-minded founders, outdoor adventure, and art.

Matt Howard, VP Water Stewardship for The Water Council
Matt oversees The Water Council’s stewardship initiatives including WAVE: Water Stewardship Verified, water stewardship advisory services and comprehensive professional water stewardship training. Previously, TWC helped establish the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) System globally with specific oversight of North America. Matt created the world’s first professional credentialing program for water stewardship professionals and made the business case for use of the International Water Stewardship Standard (“AWS Standard”) in the North American marketplace.

His 15+ years in sustainability program development and management include serving as Milwaukee’s sustainability director and leading sustainable manufacturing initiatives during his time in Washington, D.C., where he worked at the U.S. Department of Commerce and as a staffer in the U.S. House of Representatives. He has an MA from George Washington University and a BA from Valparaiso University. He is AWS and Lean Six Sigma accredited and serves on the WELL Water Advisory and the Wisconsin Governor’s Wetlands Study Council. He served on the U.S. EPA’s National Advisory Council on Environmental Policy and Technology from 2014-2019.

Rob Simm, Senior Vice President at Stantec
Rob helps lead Stantec’s industrial water practice. He has been the lead process engineer on water and wastewater treatment projects for multiple industries including mining, power, semiconductor, oil & gas, food & beverage and solar panel manufacturing. He has over 30-years of industrial water and wastewater treatment experience, which includes process studies, bench and pilot scale testing, plant optimization, detailed design, construction oversight, and system commissioning. He is also an adjunct professor in Environmental Engineering at the University of British Columbia and a Visiting Scholar at John Hopkins University.

Susan Herman, Digital Water Lead at Black & Veatch
Susan leads digital water solutions at Black & Veatch. For more than 30 years, she has delivered digital solutions to across multiple markets. Partnering with clients to drive best-fit digitalization efforts, Herman develops forward-looking solutions that enhance resilience, sustainability, quality, safety, security, and transparency.

 

 

Omer Bab, Director of Trade and Regulatory Policy
at the Embassy of Israel to the U.S.
In his role, Omer leads bilateral collaborations in environment, tech, and trade policy; regulatory affairs; and export controls. Omer is a leading partner of the US-Israel Collaboration on Water Reuse.

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