Meet the Team

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WaterStart Team

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Andrew Kingsford

General Manager Australia

 

Andrew Kingsford brings thirty years of leadership in business transformation across numerous public and private sectors. In his extensive career, Andrew has pioneered major business change programs and is a business and technology and innovation specialist. He has delivered successful reform initiatives across sectors including water, transportation, local government and natural resources and has previously held roles of Strategy Practice Lead, Chief Information Officer and Director with a successful leadership history.

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Christine Monaco

Membership Coordinator

Christine is a Membership Coordinator for WaterStart and is a recent graduate from Pennsylvania State University with a degree in business and psychology. She is currently applying to law school and hopes to work in environmental law. Working in the water innovation sector has fueled her interest in water conservation and sustainability.

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Danielle Garone

Director, Finance and Business Administration

 

Danielle is a motivated and driven accounting professional with over 20 years of experience. Danielle's expertise ranges from general ledger and financial reporting to the implementation of complex financial systems. Before starting her consulting business in 2018, Danielle held Controller level and Corporate Accounting positions for large publicly traded, international gaming manufacturers and casinos.

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Nathan Allen

Executive Director

 

Nathan Allen is the Executive Director of WaterStart. Since joining in 2014, Nathan developed the initial program model and grown the organization into a globally recognized water innovation hub. He led the development for online innovation knowledge sharing portal, CHANNELS, and opened up WaterStart to its first international office located in Queensland, Australia. Nathan has also served on the U.S. Department of Commerce Environmental Trade Advisory Committee and regularly speaks internationally on water innovation.

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Rebecca Shanahan

Director, CHANNELS

 

Prior to joining WaterStart in 2013, Rebecca spent 14 years working on water resources management issues for the Southern Nevada Water Authority gaining an intimate perspective of the challenges in obtaining, treating, and delivering consistently high-quality water to a growing community. While at SNWA, she developed and managed the evaporation data collection and analysis program to support groundwater-basin hydrologic budgets and water-right appropriations, scientific studies for species protected by the Endangered Species Act, Migratory Bird Treaty Act, Nevada Revised statutes, and other federal policies, and negotiations for contractual third-party agreements.

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Board Members

Board Members

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Barbara-Anne Bensted

Australian Committee Member
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Barbara-Anne Bensted has had a successful international, multi-industry career in enabling organisations to achieve sustainable business transformations through the adoption of leading technologies, process and organisational behavioural changes. Barbara-Anne is currently Cap Gemini’s VP for Digital Transformations. Previous to that Barbara-Anne was Partner, Digital Delta, Energy & Natural Resources for KPMG.

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Dave Johnson

Chairman

Deputy General Manager, Operations, Southern Nevada Water Authority

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David L. Johnson is the Deputy General Manager of Operations for the Las Vegas Valley Water District and Southern Nevada Water Authority. Mr. Johnson has been with the agency since 2004, previously holding the position as director of the Water Quality & Treatment department for the Southern Nevada Water Authority.

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Ian Olson

Senior Director of Global Sustainability

Senior Director of Global Sustainability

McDonald's Corporation

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In his position as the Senior Director of Global Sustainability for McDonald's Corporation, Mr. Olson is responsible for leading the advancement of sustainability strategies for McDonald’s supply chain, restaurants and communities reaching more than 69 million customers daily in over 35,000 McDonald’s restaurants worldwide.

Prior to joining McDonald’s, Mr. Olson was the Director of Sustainability for Darden Restaurants, the largest full-service restaurant company in the world and holder of well-known brands such as Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse and The Capital Grille.  Ian started his career in sustainability and established Ford Motor Company’s Supply Chain Sustainability Office, integrating sustainability strategies and supporting a $90 billion supply chain.

Mr. Olson is an Adjunct Associate Professor at Northwestern University teaching graduate level courses focused on supply chain resiliency and sustainability.  He has been featured in Fast Company as an innovative business leader, recognized as a GreenBiz Mover and Shaker, minority investor in 2Toms Brewery and member of a world championship competition BBQ team.

Mr. Olson holds a BA in Economic Policy and an MBA in Supply Chain Management from Michigan State University.

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Kristopher Sanchez

Board Member

Interim Executive Director, Governor's Office of Economic Development (GOED)

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Kristopher Sanchez serves as the Interim Executive Director for the State of Nevada, Governor's Office of Economic Development (GOED). Mr. Sanchez, previously worked as GOED's Director of International Trade and a Congressional staffer in the United States House of Representatives.

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Louise Dudley

Board member & Australian Committee Member

Former CEO, Queensland Urban Utilities

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Louise has been Chief Executive Officer of Urban Utilities since 2012, and prior to this, was the utility’s founding Chief Financial Officer. Preceding Urban Utilities’ formation, Louise held several senior management roles at Brisbane City Council, including Executive Manager Water Retail, where she helped facilitate Australia’s largest water sector transition that merged five local government water and sewerage businesses into Australia’s fourth largest water retailer (Urban Utilities). Prior to joining Brisbane City Council, Louise spent 17 years with leading accounting and advisory firm, KPMG. Louise is the President of the Australian Water Association and a director on the boards of WaterAid Australia and WaterStart. As well as being a Chartered Accountant, Louise holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Queensland, is a Graduate Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and is an Engineering Executive.

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Mark Foree

Board Member

General Manager, Truckee Meadows Water Authority

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Mark Foree serves as General Manager at Truckee Meadows Water Authority (TMWA). Mark has worked for TMWA since its formation in 2001 and worked as Manager of Engineering before being promoted to Director of Water Operations in 2002 and General Manager since 2008.

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Michael Thomas

Board Member

Capital Investment Plan Manager, Metropolitan Water District

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Mr. Thomas is a licensed mechanical and civil engineer in California, with 30 years working in the water,
nuclear, petroleum, and aircraft industries the past 18 years at Metropolitan Water District of
Southern California. In his current role as a capital programs manager, he oversees teams responsible
for Capital Investment Plan (CIP) management, construction contracts, project controls, and engineering
administration support.

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Pat Mulroy

Board Member

Maki Distinguished Faculty at DRI, Senior Fellow for Climate Adaptation and Environmental Policy, Brookings Mountain West Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution, UNLV

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Pat Mulroy is a Brookings nonresident senior fellow for climate adaptation and environmental policy at the Metropolitan Policy Program located at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, Boyd School of Law. She also serves as the senior faculty advisor for water resources and technology at the Desert Research Institute. Mulroy also served as the general manager of SNWA for twenty-five years.

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Ramsay Huntley

Board Member

Climate Strategy and Innovation Leader, Wells Fargo

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Ramsay Huntley is Wells Fargo's Climate Strategy and Innovation Leader and a member of the Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility leadership team. In this role, he works with business partners to develop new opportunities that support Wells Fargo's $200 billion sustainable finance commitment to lead the transition to a low carbon economy. Ramsay is also responsible for the bank's cleantech philanthropy programs, including Innovation Incubator (IN2) in conjunction with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

 

Channels Board

Channels Board

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Dave Johnson

Board Member

Deputy General Manager, Operations, Southern Nevada Water Authority

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David L. Johnson is the Deputy General Manager of Operations for the Las Vegas Valley Water District and Southern Nevada Water Authority. Mr. Johnson has been with the agency since 2004, previously holding the position as director of the Water Quality & Treatment department for the Southern Nevada Water Authority.

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Nathan Allen

Secretary and Treasurer

Executive Director, WaterStart

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Nathan Allen is the Executive Director of WaterStart. Since joining in 2014, Nathan developed the initial program model and grown the organization into a globally recognized water innovation hub. He led the development for online innovation knowledge sharing portal, CHANNELS, and opened up WaterStart to its first international office located in Queensland, Australia. Nathan has also served on the U.S. Department of Commerce Environmental Trade Advisory Committee and regularly speaks internationally on water innovation.

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Pat Mulroy

Chairman

Maki Distinguished Faculty at DRI, Senior Fellow for Climate Adaptation and Environmental Policy, Brookings Mountain West Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution, UNLV

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Pat Mulroy is a Brookings nonresident senior fellow for climate adaptation and environmental policy at the Metropolitan Policy Program located at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, Boyd School of Law. She also serves as the senior faculty advisor for water resources and technology at the Desert Research Institute. Mulroy also served as the general manager of SNWA for twenty-five years.

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Rebecca Shanahan

Board Member

Director of Programs & Operations, WaterStart

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Prior to joining WaterStart in 2013, Rebecca spent 14 years working on water resources management issues for the Southern Nevada Water Authority gaining an intimate perspective of the challenges in obtaining, treating, and delivering consistently high-quality water to a growing community. While at SNWA, she developed and managed the evaporation data collection and analysis program to support groundwater-basin hydrologic budgets and water-right appropriations, scientific studies for species protected by the Endangered Species Act, Migratory Bird Treaty Act, Nevada Revised statutes, and other federal policies, and negotiations for contractual third-party agreements.

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Will Sarni

Board Member

Founder and CEO of Water Foundry, LLC; CEO, Colorado River Basin Fund

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Will Sarni is the founder and CEO of Water Foundry. He is also the CEO of the Colorado River Basin Fund. Prior to Water Foundry, Sarni was a managing director at Deloitte Consulting where he established and led the water strategy practice. He was the founder and CEO of DOMANI, a sustainability strategy firm, prior to Deloitte. 

Sarni is co-founder of WetDATA and is a board member of Flowater, Silver Bullet, Project WET and the Rocky Mountain Rowing Club. He is also on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Water Security.

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WaterStart creates channels for knowledge sharing among global leaders and removes common barriers for the adoption of innovative technologies, in the delivery, management, and conservation of water.

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