2019 Agenda

Bernie Krzys is the publisher of Water Finance & Management and CEO of its publisher, Benjamin Media, Inc. Krzys first launched Trenchless Technology magazine in 1992, dedicated to covering the fledgling trenchless pipe installation and rehabilitation market. Under his leadership, Benjamin Media has now grown to publish eight additional titles covering a wide range of construction markets including water, oil and gas, tunneling and solar power.

Irwin A. “Sonny” Popowsky serves as chair of the City of Philadelphia’s Water, Sewer & Storm Water Rate Board. He started his career at the Office of Consumer Advocate (OCA) as an assistant consumer advocate in 1979. From 1990 to 2012, he served as the consumer advocate of Pennsylvania.

Popowsky also serves on the Executive Committee of the Advisory Council to the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), the Advisory Board of the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania, the Boards of Directors of the Energy Coordinating Agency, the Sustainable Energy Fund, and Regional Housing Legal Services, and as a member of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission Consumer Advisory Council. In 2010, he was appointed by Secretary of Energy Steven Chu to the Department of Energy’s Electricity Advisory Committee and served as Vice Chair of that Committee from 2012 to 2016.

Popowsky graduated Cum Laude from Yale University and received his J.D. Cum Laude from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was an Associate Editor of the Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif.

Dave Lewis is the Mid-Atlantic Account Manager for Wachs Water Services, a Xylem brand, formerly Wachs Utility Services. Lewis has been in the infrastructure mapping and GIS industry for more than 20 years leveraging his background in software development, photogrammetry, data conversion and GIS integration focused on water and wastewater applications.

Cynthia Koehler is an environmental attorney and water policy expert with 25 years of water policy experience. She is the co-founder and executive director of WaterNow Alliance, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing sustainable water solutions. Koehler was previously a member of the EPA Local Government Advisory Committee and the Board of Education Water Foundation.

Brett Matteo is a managing director at The PFM Group and President of PFM Solutions, which offers best-in-class financial modeling software branded as Synario. Synario is a malleable modeling platform that is easily configured to facilitate collaborative exploration of important questions, opportunities and risks. It has been implemented by water and wastewater utilities, public power utilities, higher education institutions, healthcare entities.

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.

Albert Cho is Vice President and General Manager for Advanced Infrastructure Analytics at Xylem, a global water technology company with $4.7B in annual revenue. In this role, he is responsible for the company’s newest business, which focuses on intelligent infrastructure diagnostics and decision support services across water, wastewater and energy infrastructure. Previously, Albert led Xylem’s corporate and business strategy, mergers and acquisitions, strategic partnerships, market intelligence, and business development activities.

Megan Glover is the CoFounder and CEO of 120WaterAudit, a software and point of use company that provides solutions to Government Agencies, Public Water Systems and School Districts to manage their lead in drinking water programs. A data and software veteran, prior to founding 120WaterAudit she spent nearly 15 years as an executive building and scaling various software as a service products in the midwest. With a passion and knowledge base for utilizing modern software technology to solve problems, 120WaterAudit provides modern software and tools necessary to solve some our most complex drinking water challenges.

Doug Hatler is an environmental engineer and the chief revenue officer at Fracta Inc.. Fracta is a Redwood City, Calif.-based technology company using artificial intelligence and machine learning to solve the aging infrastructure problem, starting with water distribution mains. For 32 years, Hatler has been dedicated to mitigating the impact of humankind on the environment. He has worked in numerous industries in roles such as environmental engineer, management consultant, and regulatory specialist. For the past 20 years, he has been focused on the sales, marketing and delivery of technology to manage environmental risk. Hatler earned a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science and an Master of Business Administration from Rutgers University, and an Master of Science in Environmental Engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

For the past 24 years, Annie Vanrenterghem Raven has been helping utilities optimize their rehabilitation and replacement plans for buried linear assets using utility-specific data, first as a researcher at New York University (NYU), then through infraPLAN, a firm she created in 2008. Over the last 3 years, after over a hundred of data-driven projects, infraPLAN has developed a web-based platform, infraSOFT, that greatly facilitates that type of studies.

Scott Berry is the Director of Policy and Government Affairs for the US Water Alliance. He leads the Alliance’s engagement on policy issues out of their Washington DC office. Previously, he was Director of the Utility Infrastructure Division, Environment, and Trade at the Associated General Contractors of America. There he spent 9 years as their head lobbyist on water infrastructure and water policy issues and member services lead for water, sewer, power, telecom, and underground construction. He has served on the Water Infrastructure Network, the Sustainable Water Infrastructure Coalition, the Common Ground Alliance, and the Waters Advocacy Coalition.

Erin Riggs is a senior project director at the Environmental Finance Center. Her primary focus is research and writing on topics including innovative stormwater finance, nutrient management, water and wastewater affordability, and regionalization of water and wastewater systems. Riggs also engages in teaching and advising and is particularly interested in legal and policy questions related to her research.

Kristy Neckowicz, PMP, is president of InVizion LLC, a software company that helps utilities integrate information from various financial, project and work order systems to analyze and defend capital budget and roadmap decisions.

Vadim Lantukh serves as CEO of Lucasys, a software and services company empowering utilities to optimize the financial performance of their fixed assets. Lantukh previously held several executive roles at various consulting and technology companies, leading professional service organizations and addressing the needs of the utility industry.

Stephen Auton-Smith is a managing director in Ernst & Young Infrastructure Advisors LLC. Auton-Smith leads the team’s environmental infrastructure business and advises utility bidders and government entities on water and energy P3s. His experience includes advising US EPA on the evaluation of WIFIA proposals. He holds a degree in Economics from Cambridge University.

Tracy Mehan oversees all Washington D.C. activities of the American Water Works Association (AWWA), serving as the liaison to the federal government and other nearby associations and organizations. Mehan served as Assistant Administrator for Water at the U.S. EPA from 2001 to 2003 and has also served on EPA’s Environmental Financial Advisory Board.

Erica Brown is chief strategy and sustainability officer for the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA) in Washington, D.C., an organization of the largest publicly owned drinking water utilities in the United States. At AMWA, Brown develops strategies to support and promote policies and innovations that enable utilities to enhance their resilience while building a strong and sustainable organization in the midst of environmental, regulatory and community changes.

Michael Deane most recently was executive director of the National Association of Water Companies (NAWC), the organization representing private water operating companies. Deane brings extensive experience from his work in both the public and private water sectors. Before joining the NAWC in 2009, he was the Associate Assistant Administrator for Water for the U.S. EPA.

Chris Kloss serves as a national green infrastructure coordinator within EPA’s Office of Water. He is responsible for programs and activities assessing the potential for green infrastructure to be used in environmental protection and compliance programs, including collaborating with federal, state, local and NGO partners.

Tracy Mehan oversees all Washington D.C. activities of the American Water Works Association (AWWA), serving as the liaison to the federal government and other nearby associations and organizations. Mehan served as Assistant Administrator for Water at the U.S. EPA from 2001 to 2003 and has also served on EPA’s Environmental Financial Advisory Board.

Karen Pallansch has been CEO for AlexRenew for nearly 15 years, where she is currently leading a program to remediate Alexandria’s combined sewer outfalls by July 2025. She has degrees in Chemical Engineering and Business Management and is a Registered Engineer in Virginia. Pallansch also serves on the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce.

Joe Crea serves as senior manager in Raftelis’ Cincinnati office and 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.

Crystal Knight-Lee is director of customer service for the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission. Her background includes management and internal consulting, human resources and organization development roles. Knight-Lee has served as trusted advisor to senior executives in the nonprofit, consulting and government sectors where she has demonstrated a strong collaborative leadership style.

Erin Boeke Burke joined S&P Global in November 2016, rating water and sewer bonds and debt issued by State Revolving Funds and bond banks. Through previous experience in the federal Office of Management and Budget, she oversaw part of the Army Corps of Engineers’ budget and the budget for federal lending programs, particularly for infrastructure.

Nathan Gardner-Andrews serves as the chief advocacy officer for the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA) in Washington, D.C., where he has worked since 2006. He is responsible for coordinating all of NACWA’s advocacy initiatives and integrating the association’s legislative, regulatory, legal and communications advocacy work. He has written articles and spoken nationally on a wide range of clean water issues.

Chris Hornback joined NACWA in 2001 and is currently the Deputy CEO, responsible for tracking relevant regulatory issues and formulating NACWA regulatory policy. He oversees the Association’s efforts related to water quality, wet weather, biosolids, and utility management. Hornback coordinates the activities of six standing committees and workgroups and manages the Association’s Targeted Action Fund. Prior to joining NACWA, Hornback worked as a Senior Associate with Booz/Allen/Hamilton, a multinational management consulting firm. During his five years with Booz/Allen, he specialized in the areas of hazardous waste management, solid waste management, underground storage tanks, risk management planning, and clean water issues. Hornback has a B.A. in Environmental Science from the University of Virginia.

Joe Beach is the chief financial officer and treasurer for the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC). Over his more than 30 years of experience in government finance, including as the finance director for Montgomery County in Maryland, Beach has led the issuance of over $5 billion in tax-exempt debt issuance to finance public infrastructure projects.

Paul Hanna is the lead economist for the Water Fund within Seattle Public Utilities. He is responsible for developing rates, ensuring financial performance, managing debt issuance, and policy analysis across the utility. He has worked on affordability issues for over 8 years.

Robert Ryall leads Arcadis’ Financial Services Practice. He is responsible for national financial services program development, expansion of business development capabilities, supervising a team of consulting colleagues, managing project teams, leading business development efforts and providing consulting excellence.

A native of Appalachia, Jeff attended the University of Tennessee majoring in chemical engineering. Following a passion for the environment, he moved to graduate school achieving a PhD in biochemical engineering concentrating in biological waste treatment. After working at universities in Switzerland and India, he returned home to work in the field of water and wastewater. Having worked mostly in the private sector for the past 30 years, he has recently returned to the public sector.

Ellen Tarquinio works at the Water Infrastructure and Resiliency Finance Center at the U.S. EPA, focusing on financing for stormwater programs and nutrient reduction. She started at the EPA in 2004, leading the National Rivers and Streams Assessment and National Lakes Survey, as well as leading efforts to develop monitoring programs at the States and other Federal Agencies.  After a year working as Special Assistant for the  EPA Administrator, she served as the Deputy Director for Water Policy at the White House. She has also worked in the Office of Groundwater and Drinking water, focusing on water system regionalization. Before coming to EPA, Ellen worked as a fisheries biologist at New York State and attended the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Maine.

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.

Debra Coy is a partner with XPV Water Partners, the largest water-focused growth equity fund in North America. She has extensive experience as a Wall Street analyst and consultant. Coy also serves on the Board of Directors for AquaVenture Holdings, Global Water Resources Inc., and Willdan Group Inc., and is a regular speaker on water industry finance.

Michael Curley is a lawyer with a career in project finance and energy and environmental finance. He joined the Environmental Law Institute as a visiting scholar in 2013 and has served on the EPA Environmental Financial Advisory Board for 21 years. He is the author of Finance Policy for Renewable Energy and a Sustainable Environment.

Jorianne Jernberg is the director of EPA’s WIFIA program. She oversees wastewater infrastructure projects and is managing the implementation of a new Federal lending program at the EPA. Jernberg previously served as the head of risk management and financial operations at the TIFIA program. She has a BA and MPA from Cleveland State University.