YP Summit 2024
The WEF/AWWA Young Professionals (YP) Summit is the premier water and wastewater industry workshop for young professionals. Join other young leaders by exploring your role in water and discussing how you can best serve the water sector at large.
This is a skills development workshop that provides supplemental training and networking opportunities to emerging leaders and students in the water sector.
All students and young professionals in water-related roles are encouraged to join.
Registration is required.
2022 YP Summit participants in Orlando, Florida, February 21st, 2022.
Registration Housing Program Sponsors Local Host Guide Pre-Summit Activity YP WORKSHOP DAY JUSTIFICATION LETTER
YP Utility Scholarships Save the Date SPEAKERS
SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES Volunteer
Registration
The 2024 WEF/AWWA YP Summit is sold out. Advance registration is closed. We look forward to seeing you in Portland!
2024 WEF/AWWA YP Summit Conference Fees
Use Promocode: YPSUM24
| REGISTRATION TYPE | CONFERENCE PACKAGE TYPE | MEMBER EARLY BIRD: By 01/12/24 | NON-MEMBER EARLY BIRD: BY 01/12/24 | MEMBER STANDARD On or After 01/13/24 | NON-MEMBER STANDARD On or After 01/13/24 |
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YOUNG PROFESSIONAL: YP SUMMIT + FULL CONFERENCE |
YP Summit: Full Conference | $235.00 | $295.00 | $235.00 | $295.00 |
|
STUDENT: YP SUMMIT + FULL CONFERENCE |
YP Summit: Full Conference | $0.00 | $200.00** | $0.00 | $200.00** |
|
STUDENT: YP SUMMIT ONLY |
YP Summit Only | $0.00 | $180.00** | $0.00 | $180.00** |
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YOUNG PROFESSIONAL: YP SUMMIT ONLY |
YP Summit Only | $145.00 | $200.00 | $145.00 | $200.00 |
*You must be an active WEF or AWWA Member to qualify for these rates. Join or renew today.
**Student nonmember: To qualify for the Student Non-Member rate, you must provide proof of enrollment in a minimum of six (6) credit hours at an accredited college or university and provide written documentation on school letterhead, verifying your student status.
Please email csc@wef.org with membership questions.
This conference is jointly hosted by the Water Environment Federation and American Water Works Association with cooperation from the Pacific Northwest Clean Water Association.
To Register, follow these steps:
- Look up your WEF Account entering your Last Name and Email.
- WEF Members, look up your WEF Account by entering your Last Name and Email.
- AWWA Members and others who do not have a WEF account, choose "Continue as Not a Member."
AWWA Members will be prompted to enter your AWWA member information later to receive your member discount. - Enter the YP Promo code to receive the YP Rates
For step-by-step instructions on the registration process, view the registration tutorial pdf.
Payment
Online registration payments are by credit card only (Visa, Mastercard, or American Express).
Cancellation and Substitution
A written request for cancellation/refund must be submitted by January 26, 2024. WEF will charge a 25% cancellation fee and refund 75%. No refunds will be issued for cancellations requested after January 26, 2024. Rather than canceling, consider sending a substitute. An organization may submit a request to substitute one person for another in writing by January 26, 2024.
Important Note
All attendees must have a unique email address registered. If you are registering for someone else, please enter their email address.
Policies, Terms, and Conditions
Questions? Please contact: Registration@wef.org
Housing
2024 Summit Headquarters Hotel:
Hyatt Regency Portland at the Oregon Convention Center
375 NE Holladay Street | Portland, OR 97232
Located directly across the street (1-block walk) from the Oregon Convention Center. Experience a true taste of the city at Hyatt Regency Portland, adjacent to the Oregon Convention Center and the Moda Center/Rose Quarter. As curators of everything Portland, Hyatt Regency Portland showcases the area’s best artisans, including Wayfinder Brewing, Wild Roots Spirits, Adelsheim Vineyards, and more.
Conference Rate: $179.00/night + 16.0% occupancy tax (tax subject to change)
Conference Rate Deadline: January 12, 2024
Rooms are no longer available at the conference rate. Call Hyatt Hotels directly to inquire if rooms are available at the Hotel's prevailing rates: +1 800-993-4534.
Alternative Hotels
Courtyard by Marriott Portland Downtown/Convention Center
435 NE Wasco Street | Portland, OR 97232
The Courtyard is offering rooms for $179.00/night plus taxes. They will be offered until they either sell out or until January 29 (whichever occurs first). This hotel is a 5-block walk to the Oregon Convention Center's entrance and a 4-block walk to the Hyatt Regency.
Crowne Plaza Portland Downtown/Convention Center
1441 NE 2nd Avenue | Portland, OR 97232
The Crowne Plaza is offering rooms for $149.00/night plus taxes. They will be offered until the sell out or until January 29 (whichever occurs first). This hotel is an 7-block walk to the Oregon Convention Center's entrance and a 6-block walk to the Hyatt Regency.
CROWNE PLAZA ONLINE RESERVATIONS
Hotel Eastlund (1021 NE Grand Ave, Portland, OR 97232) is a boutique hotel located directly across the street from the Oregon Convention Center and the Hyatt Regency. The hotel is not offering rooms exclusively for conference attendees, but has limited rooms available at its prevailing standard guest rates.
Hotels are directly accepting and managing reservations for The Utility Management Conference 2024 and the Young Professionals Summit 2024. WEF is not partnering with a third-party travel agency or hotel management company to make reservations on behalf of participants. Be suspicious of any third-party agency that contacts you regarding hotel reservations for these events. Concerned? Send WEF a message.
Program
“Taking Care of Business”
Our water workforce is diverse and mighty. Join us for the 2024 WEF/AWWA Young Professionals Summit as we delve into this year’s theme – “Taking Care of Business” – with interactive discussions and activities focusing on cross-industry collaboration, workforce development, and utility management. Check out our program and speakers to learn more!
Sponsors
PLATINUM:
GOLD:
SILVER:
DIGITAL
PROFESSIONAL HEADSHOTS SPONSORED BY:
YP SUMMIT LUNCHEON SPONSORED BY:
LOCAL HOST GUIDE
Pre-Summit Activity
Coming into town early? Join us for a free group event—the waitlist is now open! We are planning a local adventure that will help us understand the water environment of our host community in a very special way.
Please use the following link to register and plan to arrive at the Headquarters Hotel by noon on Pre-Summit day to join the festivities.
Interested? Fill out this form and we will send you more details in early 2024!
YP Workshop Day
WEF Emerging Young Professional Leaders Workshop (EYPL)
The WEF EYPL Workshop brings students and young professionals of all backgrounds together around an engaging, relevant industry topic. We make an effort to focus on non-traditional topics that promote professional development and strengthen leadership skills. Join us on Monday, February 12, 2024 for this creative, “Navigating the New Workforce” workshop. Your ticket is free with your registration for the YP Summit – and includes lunch!
AWWA YP Leader Training
Join us for AWWA’s YP Leader Training! This training is geared towards all students and young professionals in the water industry who are interested in learning more about AWWA, professional growth, and networking with industry leaders. Students and YPs will have the opportunity to meet AWWA leadership and fellow YP leaders, cultivate leadership skills, and have discussions with peers about the issues we face in the water industry. This event will be held on February 12, 2024, and is free for AWWA members.
Justification Letter
How To Sell Attendance To Your Boss
We know it can be a challenge to get funding to attend a conference. Here’s how to pitch the benefits of attending the YP Summit to your supervisor.
YP Summit attendees will learn about emerging issues in our industry and connect with a diverse group of water industry peers. The program is intended to challenge attendees to think critically about our industry (present and future) and to establish lasting connections with peers. Where else can you find so many professionals facing the same issues as your organization and learn how others are addressing those challenges? Are there solutions you’re not aware of?
The Justification Letter has several tips to guide you in your request for approval to attend YP Summit.
Download the Justification Letter
YP Utility Scholarships
The YP Summit Planning team is offering extra support to make attending the Summit easier and more affordable for utility/operator YP attendees! WEF and AWWA Water Equation are providing scholarships to assist with travel, lodging, meals, and registration for ten young water professionals currently employed by any department in a utility. YP members of either or both associations are encouraged to apply. All scholarship details and deadlines are outlined in the application linked below. Please contact WEF Staff, Ama Richardson, or AWWA Staff, Mary Svoboda with any questions you may have.
2024 Winners
Nicholas Aristizabal
Company: City of Pearland, TX
Chathurika Bandara
Company: H2O Terra LLC and El Paso Water, TX
April Grahn
Company: Jurupa Community Services District
Jeff Kowar
Company: Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago
Bharathi Murali
Company: Region of Peel, Ontario
Seirra Potter
Company: South Platte Renew, CO
Wesley Stockwell
Company: City of Plymouth, MN
Jennifer Toney
Company: Birmingham Water Works, AL
Kaitlin Walsh
Company: Buffalo Sewer Authority, NY
Lino Zanardo
Company: Region of Peel, Ontario
Save the Date
Speakers
Aimeé R. Killeen is the 2023-24 President of the WEF Board of Trustees and a member of the board for the Water Environment Federation (WEF), an international organization of water quality professionals headquartered in Alexandria, Va. Aimeé is currently a company leader for Providence Engineering and Environmental Group LLC in Baton Rouge, La. At Providence, Aimeé leads the Air, Water, Waste, Ground Water, Environmental Engineering and Remediation teams as their company leader, and is responsible for an awesome team of employee owners.
Pat Nichols is the Interim Executive Director of the Water Environment Federation, an international organization of water quality professionals headquartered in Alexandria, Va. In this capacity, he oversees a staff of 100 and an annual budget of $27 million and serves as Secretary of the Federation’s Board of Trustees.
Patrick “Pat” Kerr was elected President of the Baton Rouge Water Works Company (BRWC) in 2005 and has been CEO since 2009. He is responsible for the performance of BRWC and its two subsidiaries that serve nearly 186,000 active customers. As of 2018, Kerr chairs the boards of directors of each of the three companies.
Mr. Kerr is a Distinguished Military Graduate of Boston University who served ten years as an active Regular Army officer and ten years as a Ready Reservist. During his Army career, Major Kerr earned Senior Aviator Wings; the Ranger Tab; and Airborne, Air Assault and British Paratroop Wings. He served as a Special Operations aviator for four years during which time he deployed to Desert Storm, and he served as an attack helicopter pilot and platoon commander in Korea and Germany. He earned an MBA from Louisiana State University in 2003.
Mr. Kerr has been a member of the American Water Works Association since 1995. He is AWWA President and served as chair of AWWA’s Water Utility Council (2019 – 2022), which Council is responsible for helping shape federal legislative- and administrative activities. In addition to AWWA, Mr. Kerr is a member of the board of directors of the National Association of Water Companies. He is past chair of the Louisiana Capital Area Groundwater Conservation Commission and has served on the Louisiana State Groundwater Commission. Pat is an avid pilot and airplane and helicopter flight instructor. He and Eleanor love to travel with thier two healthy, beautiful daughters. Colleen lives and works in New York City; and Caroline is studying Law at Washington and Lee University.
David LaFrance is Chief Executive Officer of the American Water Works Association, where he guides AWWA’s extensive scientific, educational, and public policy work to build a better world through better water. Prior to joining AWWA in 2010, he was the CFO for Denver Water where, during his 17-year tenure, he also served as the utility’s Manager of Rate Administration. His background also includes experience at consulting firm CH2M Hill and the US Army Corps of Engineers.
Rosemary Smud's ability to build, motivate and inspire teams to meet and exceed project goals is rooted in her talent for bridging the gap between technical and non-technical project team members with her clients at Carollo Engineers, Inc. where she is a Vice President and client services manager. She is a past vice-president of AWWA and was the youngest person to ever serve in this role for AWWA, after serving as a Director-At-Large on the AWWA Board of Directors and on the YP Committee for AWWA. She currently serves as a trustee on the CA-NV AWWA Board of Directors and mentors local YP’s on how to get the most out of their association and section involvement. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering from GA Tech and an MBC from University of California, Davis.
Jori Nelson (Water Research Foundation) serves as The Water Research Foundation (WRF)’s Regional Liaison for subscribing utilities in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona. Before transitioning into her current role at WRF, Jori worked in various roles at utilities in Florida and Colorado. From running bacteriological samples in a public utilities laboratory, to submitting compliance reports for a potable water system, then learning the ins and outs of biosolids land application in Colorado, Jori’s experience has spanned the water sector. She is currently a certified Wastewater D Operator in the State of Colorado and is studying for her Drinking Water License later this year. She is also honored to have been selected as a part of this year’s AWWA’s Transformative Water Leadership Academy (TWLA) cohort.
Amy Dammarell (HDR, Inc.) is a Senior Vice President and a Director of Professional Services for HDR’s Water Business Group. She has over two decades of experience supporting clients of all types with delivering their infrastructure programs. In addition to bringing solutions that integrate natural and human environments, she enjoys facilitating opportunities to enhance leadership skills and career development of self and others. She is often engaged in HDRs learning and organizational development initiatives.
Jeff Zahller (HDR, Inc.) is a licensed Chemical Engineer in Washington and has served as a process mechanical designer for water and wastewater plants for 20 years. He currently is a Senior Professional Associate at HDR and focuses on wastewater treatment, biosolids, odor control systems, chemical feed systems, and all things treatment related. He was part of the HDR’s pilot group for the Talon mentoring program to help facilitate knowledge transfer from senior to mid-level engineers.
Jeff Sober is a Senior Vice President and the Director of Garver’s Water and Wastewater services where he serves on Garver’s Board of Directors. Jeff has 22 years of experience in the water and wastewater industry, focusing on large scale facility master planning, wastewater treatment process design, grit removal science, operations, and biosolids. Jeff is a Past President of the Water Environment Association of Texas and serves as Chair of the WEF Operations Challenge Committee. He has been responsible for leading operations training and workforce development initiatives in Texas and has been active in the leadership of Operations Challenge at the State and National levels for 18 years.
Chelsea Boozer is Executive Director of Rogue Water Lab, a nonprofit revolutionizing how the water industry communicates by being a hub of resources and opportunities for engagement through events, trainings, workshops, podcasts, and videos, all geared towards behavior change through the lens of communication. Chelsea serves on the AWWA Executive Committee and Board of Directors, and on AWWA’s Water Utility Council and Young Professionals Committee. She previously was the Government Affairs Manager for Central Arkansas Water, managing regionalism, stakeholder engagement, and government relations. Prior to water, Chelsea had an award-winning career in journalism. She has an MPA from Syracuse University and loves traveling with her 6-year-old son.
Erich José Juan Pacheco (he/him/él), Equity and Policy Manager, works to create the conditions for all Portlanders have access to the resources and opportunities they need to thrive within the scope of the Water Bureau’s mission. Erich collaborates with diverse internal and external stakeholders to advance the bureau’s equity goals on topics such as strategic planning, asset management, emergency preparedness, data-informed decision making, community engagement, affordability and financial assistance, communications, employee recruitment and well-being, contracting, budgeting, performance management, capacity development, and conflict management. Prior to joining the Portland Water Bureau, Erich was the Director of Global Ocean Governance and Policy at Conservation International, where he advanced participatory and data-informed decision-making in ocean and coastal management. In addition, he worked on food security initiatives in West Africa, first as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guinea and later as a technical coordinator for the US Agency for International Development in Mali. Erich grew up in Venezuela, speaks fluent in English, Spanish, and French, and is learning to speak Mandarin. He earned a master’s degree in environmental policy and management from the Middlebury College Institute of International Studies and a bachelor’s degree in economics and international relations from the University of California, Davis.
Cathy Bernardino Bailey is the Executive Director of Greater Cincinnati Water Works for the City of Cincinnati. She is the first woman and African American woman to lead the independent water utility since its formation over 205 years ago. Cathy her career in water research at USEPA, then transitioned to the utility in 1992 as a chemist, promoted to various positions and was selected as Executive Director September 2015. Sheleads 600 employees in providing drinking water and stormwater services to over 1.2 million customers in the region. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from the University of Cincinnati.
Known to many in the industry as the First Lady of Water, Cathy’s knowledge, impact, and reach are influential because of her storytelling, drive, and goals to reduce lead in water. Cathy is the leader behind Cincinnati’s nationally recognized lead service line replacement program. She was selected in 2022 by USEPA for a one-year assignment as Senior Advisor to assist with establishing the lead service line accelerator program that will guide 40 communities in creating their replacement programs.
Steve Walden has over 45 years of experience in the Texas water arena and chairs the TAWWA’s Small Systems Committee, serves on Texas Desalination Association Board, and is an active participant in the Texas Produced Water Consortium. Steve has received several water industry awards including TAWWA’s “WT Ballard” award for lifetime contributions to the water industry in Texas. Following his 2003 retirement from TCEQ, Steve launched a successful consultancy focused on regulatory compliance strategies and cutting-edge water technologies. Hobbies include pro bono assistance to small, low-income water utilities, Blues music jams, surf fishing, and family travel.
Ted Henifin was appointed the Interim Third-Party Manager for the Jackson Water System by Federal District Judge Henry T. Wingate on November 29, 2022. As the ITPM, Henifin is an officer of the court and responsible for stabilizing the system to ensure safe and reliable water is available for all people served by the Jackson water system.
Prior to that, Henifin served as General Manager of the Hampton Roads Sanitation District for more than 15-years, retiring in 2022. While at HRSD he built a culture of innovation which led to the development of the novel Sustainable Water Initiative for Tomorrow (SWIFT), a large-scale managed aquifer recharge program, unique in the eastern US. He previously served for nine years as Director of Public Works for the City of Hampton.
Henifin holds a bachelor's of science in civil engineering from the University of Virginia. He is a registered professional engineer in Mississippi and Virginia.
Sponsorship Opportunities
Support the future of water! The Young Professionals Summit offers a variety of sponsorship opportunities to enhance your company's impact and visibility throughout the conference.
Co-hosted by AWWA and WEF, The YP Summit is the premier water and wastewater industry workshop for young professionals.
Show your support for these future industry leaders by taking advantage of the sponsorship opportunities listed below. Being a conference sponsor is a great way to leverage your presence at the conference, increase your brand awareness, and put your organization’s name in front of these up and coming YPs!
For more information, contact WEF Staff Ama Richardson.
Volunteer
The WEF/AWWA YP Summit wouldn't be possible without the dedication and hard work of our volunteers. Aimeé is currently a company leader for Providence Engineering and Environmental Group LLC in Baton Rouge, La. At Providence, Aimeé leads the Air, Water, Waste, Ground Water, Environmental Engineering and Remediation teams as their company leader, and is responsible for an awesome team of employee owners.
- Local Host Committee
- Marketing Committee
- Programming Committee
- Sponsorship Committee
If you are interested in volunteering or learning more about YP Summit 2025, please email WEF Staff Ama Richardson.
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