2023 Agenda

The Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District is a regional entity providing sanitary and stormwater management services to Cleveland and 61 suburban communities in Northeast Ohio. As CEO, Ms. Dreyfuss-Wells oversees the operation of one of the largest clean-water agencies in Ohio, a district that treats 90 billion gallons of water every year thanks to the work of more than 750 employees. She works closely with seven Trustees and nine directors to ensure efficient management of hundreds of miles of sewer and stream networks, a multi-billion-dollar 25-year Project Clean Lake program, and a regional wet-weather strategy for the health of Lake Erie and more than one million residents.

Lauren Balsamo is an analyst dedicated to the municipal water sector. Her areas of expertise include water infrastructure, water quality and policy analysis. Her research has included deep dives into the PFAS market landscape, CAPEX projections and pipe network opportunities. Lauren received a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts.

Bryan Peckinpaugh has been instrumental in the development and outreach related to Detroit’s new income-based water affordability program – the DWSD Lifeline Plan – where 86% of the enrollees have a $18 monthly bill. He has been with the Detroit Water & Sewerage Department (DWSD) since 2016 responsible for communications, media relations, customer education and community programming, integrated advertising, community outreach, and government affairs. In addition to the Lifeline Plan, Peckinpaugh and his team have been instrumental in outreach efforts related to a robust lead service line replacement program. Peckinpaugh has more than 20 years of public relations and marketing experience in government, nonprofit and sports. He has a degree in business administration specializing in marketing from the University of Michigan.

Dave Fox leads Raftelis’ New England practice based out of Natick, MA. He has over a decade of experience in utility rate and financial consulting. Over the course of his career, Dave has worked with water, wastewater, and stormwater utilities, both public and private, on a variety of issues including: cost-of-service and rate design studies, financial sufficiency and planning assistance, customer affordability analyses and assistance program implementation, impact fee and other miscellaneous fee analyses, utility valuations, and bond feasibility and coverage certificate support analyses. Dave has a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Economics. He lives in Massachusetts with his wife and two daughters.

Joe Crea serves as vice president and senior manager in Raftelis’ Cincinnati office. His work focuses on helping municipal utilities manage the myriad financial and managerial efforts required to maintain sustainable and effective service delivery. With more than 10 years of experience in the utility industry, Crea has developed a thorough understanding of the opportunities and challenges facing water and wastewater utilities.

Nicolette N. Bateson, CPA, is the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Treasurer for the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA). She previously served as CFO of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, beginning in February 2013. In that role, she led the Financial Services Group through a significant transformation effort engaging cross-functional teams to achieve sustainable change. The result was a professionalized department with an unprecedented demonstration of transparency to all stakeholders. This pivotal effort supported intensive, collaborative discussions that were essential to forming the regional authority.

Alex Margevicius, a native Clevelander, began his tenure with the Cleveland Division of Water as a Civil Engineer in 1985 and was appointed the Assistant Commissioner of Engineering at CWD in 1995.  Mr. Margevicius was responsible for coordinating all engineering and capital improvement projects for the Division.  He is an expert in the design and operation of large, complex water systems, and has significant insights into distribution system infrastructure issues.

Sherry Loos is a senior management consultant at Arcadis with over 20 years of experience advising public water and sewer systems and helping them secure state and federal funding. Loos joined Arcadis after serving two decades as an RCAP coordinator, GIS coordinator and Technical Assistance Provider for the non-profit Great Lakes Community Action Partnership, leading a program that served over 250 small water and wastewater systems annually by offering consulting, technical assistance and training programs. Her broad experience helping public water and sewer utilities includes project development and grant writing, asset management plan development, rate studies, regionalization project facilitation, GIS services, lead service line inventories development, and board training. Loos earned a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science from Allegheny College, and a Master of Science in Water Resources from Iowa State University.

Nichole Sajdak serves as an engineering manager at the Great Lakes Water Authority. She is passionate about drinking water quality and treatment and her career includes more than 20 years as a consulting engineer conducting studies, designs and construction management of capital improvement projects. She received her master’s from the School of Public Health at UNC – Chapel Hill.

Greg Baird is the president of the Water Finance Research Foundation. He specializes in long-term utility planning, infrastructure asset management and capital funding strategies for municipal utilities in the United States. He has served as a municipal finance officer in California with rate design and implementation experience and as the CFO of Colorado’s third-largest utility. He is widely published and presents on utility infrastructure asset management and integrated water finance issues. He is also a frequent contributor to Water Finance & Management.

Danielle Giannantonio has served as the Legislative Affairs Manager for the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD) since 2018 and as a member of the Ohio Lake Erie Commission (OLEC) since 2020. Prior to her current positions, Giannantonio has served as the Legislative Liaison for the Ohio EPA as well as Legislative Aide and Page in the Ohio House of Representatives. Giannantonio graduated from the University of Dayton with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration.

As Wade Trim’s client funding director, Wayne Hofmann assists his clients to position for and pursue emerging funding sources to meet their infrastructure needs. His broad understanding of federal, state, and private funding sources includes both civil infrastructure and commercial construction in his 15-year career. This varied experience has enabled a unique understanding of how governmental programs, philanthropic funding sources, tax credits and loans can be leveraged.

Doug Baldessari is a partner in Baker Tilly’s public sector practice. His practice includes financial studies and projects for municipally-owned water, sewage and stormwater utilities, not-for-profit water, regional water and sewer districts and conservancy districts. These projects often involve bond financing, financial analysis and determining utility revenue requirements, cost-of-service studies, asset management and financial planning associated with capital acquisition.

Zack Perconti is a graduate of the College of William & Mary and the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. He has worked on infrastructure and labor issues since 2016. He has deep knowledge of U.S. legislative, budgetary, and regulatory processes and is an expert on grassroots communication. This has translated into high effectiveness in achieving clients’ government-relations objectives.

John Marciszewski is vice president of business development for SmartCover. He previously worked in business development for Mueller and has focused on innovative practices for buried infrastructure, with emphasis on capital efficiency, system resiliency, and water loss management. John has 25 years of commercialization experience in high-tech, focusing on the water-energy nexus since 2005. He is also a founding Industrial Advisory Board member for the Sustainable Water Infrastructure Management Center. John has a Master of Engineering from the University of California Berkeley and Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering from Kettering University.