December 13, 2019

George Hawkins is the founder and CEO of Moonshot Missions. He was the General Manager of DC Water, where he served for eleven years, including several as a Board member. During his tenure, he became well known across the water sector for transforming DC Water into an innovative, customer-driven enterprise, while tripling its investment in clean water. DC Water’s innovations ranged from award winning Green Infrastructure and a $500 million investment in clean energy, to creative social media campaigns and patents for new treatment technologies that require less energy and chemicals but achieve better results. DC Water issued the nation’s first century bond, world’s first environmental impact bond, and spearheaded programs to support low-income customers and provide meaningful job opportunities for District residents.

Mr. Adeem, a Newark native, began working for the City of Newark in 1991 in the Department of Engineering. In 2013, Adeem was promoted to superintendent of public works, where he oversaw daily maintenance operations of the Department of Water and Sewer Utilities. In 2018, he received his certification as a Public Works Manager and was appointed to his present position. He was a key player in various municipal projects, including the Queen Ditch Restoration Project, which helped address chronic flooding along Frelinghuysen Avenue that has plagued the area for more than 30 years. Director Adeem is credited with helping to rebrand the Department of Water and Sewer Utilities and upgrading the city’s infrastructure as it works to replace every lead service line. He is a dedicated public servant who has, and continues to, give back to his native community.

Amy oversees all of New Jersey programs for Clean Water Action and Clean Water Fund. She also serves on the Board of the NJ Work Environment Council and NJ Citizen Action, Steering Committee of the Coalition for Healthy Ports, ElectrifyNJ, EmpowerNJ, Jersey Renews, Sewer Free Streets & Rivers, Lead Free NJ, Chair’s NJ Lead in Drinking Water Task Force, Governor’s Public Appointee to NJDEP Clean Water Council. From 1994-2002, served in various roles as National Coordinator for the Public Health Institute’s (PHI) Jobs and Environment Training Consortium and Member of National Just Transition Alliance Curriculum Writing Team. Before joining Clean Water Action in mid-1992, Ms. Goldsmith directed Clean Water Action/Fund’s New England programs for seven years – leading a variety of public campaigns around water, superfund and Boston Harbor cleanups, and solid waste. From 1989-1992, Amy served as the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Nuclear Referendum Committee, focused on radioactive waste issues. She has a B.S. in Land Use Planning from the University of Minnesota, and served for three years as a research scientist with the University of Minnesota’s Entomology Department. Amy lives in Red Bank with her husband, has 2 grown children, 3 cats, and 1 turtle. She loves to garden and take walks in her favorite nature areas.

Andrew Kricun is a Managing Director with Moonshot Missions, a non-profit focused on providing technical assistance to water utilities in underserved communities. Prior to that, he served as Executive Director and Chief Engineer of the Camden County Municipal Utilities Authority, operators of an 80 million gallon per day wastewater treatment plant in Camden, NJ. He has 35 years of wastewater and biosolids management experience. He graduated with honors from Princeton University with a degree in chemical engineering. He also holds a professional engineer’s license in civil engineering and is a board-certified environmental engineer as well.

Andy serves on the USEPA’s National Environmental Justice Advisory Council and also New Jersey Environmental Justice Advisory Council.  He previously served on the board of the National Association of Clean Water Agencies and as the chair of its Utility of the Future committee and the Environmental Justice committee. He was the recipient of the Praxis Award for Professional Ethics, the President’s Award from the National Association of Clean Water Agencies, the One Water Prize from the US Water Alliance, and Environmental Quality Awards from the United States Environmental Protection Agency. He was also chosen as governmental engineer of the year by the NJ Chapter American Society of Civil Engineers in 2018.

He serves as co-chair for the Jersey Water Works Steering Committee.

Dr. Obropta was an environmental consultant for 12 years at Omni Environmental Corporation before joining Rutgers University. His experience includes watershed restoration, onsite wastewater treatment system design and management, wasteload allocations and TMDL studies, stormwater management, wetland design, effluent dilution analyses, longshore sediment transport, computer aided design, and geographic information systems. Dr. Obropta also teaches Bioresource Engineering Design I and II with the Department of Environmental Sciences at the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences at Rutgers University.

Jennifer Gonzalez, AICP, CFM, LEED-GA, ENV SP, is the Director of Environmental Services and Chief Sustainability Officer for the City of Hoboken, New Jersey where she oversees public works including parks, public property, waste management, and green stormwater infrastructure projects. She advances asset management, sustainability in municipal operations across multiple departments, and resiliency projects such as ResilienCity Park. She also supports emergency management, the Hoboken drinking water utility, and coordination with energy and sewer utilities. Before joining the City of Hoboken, Ms. Gonzalez was a Principal Planner with Louis Berger and Environmental Planner with the County of Passaic, New Jersey. She holds professional certifications from the American Planning Association (AICP), National Assocation of Floodplain Managers (CFM), U.S. Green Building Certification Institute (LEED-Green Associate), and New Jersey Board of Professional Planners (PP). She earned her M.A. in Environmental Policy from Lehigh University.

Nicole Miller, Principal of MnM Consulting, is a communications professional with nearly two decades of experience creating targeted publicity and marketing campaigns for a range of clients in private industry and the nonprofit sector. MnM Consulting specializes in media development, digital and print publishing, brand strategy, content creation, and clean energy/sustainability education for business and general audiences. MnM Consulting works with several small business, government, and non-profit clients on brand development, project management, event coordination and product deployment. Ms. Miller has a BA in Arts, Media, and Culture from the University of Washington and a Master of Science in Publishing from Pace University in New York. Ms. Miller is a resident of Newark, NJ, a member of the Newark Environmental Commission advising the Mayor and City Council on sustainability issues, Chair of the Newark Green Team, and Co-Chair of NewarkDIG (Doing Infrastructure Green), which is dedicated to resilient and sustainable municipal stormwater management.

She serves as co-chair for the Jersey Water Works Steering Committee.

Donald C. Shields, PE, is Vice President and Director of Engineering for New Jersey American Water, the largest investor-owned water utility in the state, providing high-quality and reliable water and/or wastewater to approximately 2.8 million people. Shields oversees a staff of over 50 professionals including construction managers, engineers, planners and geographic information systems (GIS) specialists. He is directly responsible for delivering New Jersey American Water’s capital investment program of more than $350 million per year. In his role, he also provides oversight to engineering activities in the other Eastern Division states, which includes New York, Virginia and Maryland.

Shields has more than 25 years of industry experience, joining American Water in 2001. Prior to his current role, he served as Engineering Director of New Business Development for American Water’s Corporate Engineering Group. While there, he supported American Water’s regulated and market-based businesses, offering technical guidance and expertise for project development and execution, including large water, wastewater and solids digestion/management/handling/energy production.  

He also spent ten years at American Water’s former subsidiary, Applied Water Management, where he managed a team of 30 construction managers and engineers. He has significant experience with designing, building and commissioning membrane bio reactors, a key technology used in water reclamation and reuse. 

Prior to joining American Water, Shields spent ten years working for Bergen County Utilities Authority in Northern New Jersey, where he worked on capital improvement projects ranging from automated meter systems and force main rehabilitation, to wastewater treatment plant upgrades.

Shields is a licensed Professional Engineer in New Jersey, and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Villanova University.

Rich is the Director for Ridgewood Water; one of the 25 largest utilities in the state, servicing over 61,000 customers in four municipalities. Rich is a licensed professional engineer and planner, with over 25 years’ experience. The hallmark of his career has been the last six years with Ridgewood, advancing government policies with sound engineering principles, to provide safe drinking water from a complex groundwater system.

The Hoboken Brownstone Company renovates brownstones and row houses and builds mid- and hi-rise condominiums in Hoboken and Jersey City. Mr. Vallone’s general contracting company, Inner City Construction, Inc., has built more than 1,000 units of affordable housing for nonprofit groups and for-profit housing corporations in Paterson, Newark, and Trenton. Mr. Vallone is a past president of the New Jersey Builders Association (NJBA) and chairman of NJBA’s mixed-use developers affiliate. He has taught real estate finance and risk management at the Rutgers Graduate School of Business, the New Jersey Redevelopment Agency, the Rutgers Cook College Continuing Education series, and the New Jersey Bar Association’s Institute for Continuing Legal Education.

Senator Singleton began his career as legislative director for New Jersey Assemblymen Herb Conaway and Jack Conners in the district he would come to represent. He served as deputy executive director of the New Jersey General Assembly Majority Office and chief of staff under Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts, Jr. In 2011, he was elected to his first term in the New Jersey General Assembly, representing the 7th Legislative District. Elected to the New Jersey Senate in 2017, Senator Singleton now serves on the Senate Community and Urban Affairs (as chair), Economic Growth (vice chair) and the Budget and Appropriations Committees. His primary focus remains on job creation, economic development, and the needs of New Jersey’s working families.

Mr. Shroba oversees all New Jersey American Water operations at the largest investor-owned water utility in the state, providing high-quality and reliable water and/or wastewater services to approximately 2.7 million people. He also provides strategic input into statewide growth and development opportunities and continues to support the company’s commitment to safety for its employees and customers. With nearly 30 years of experience at American Water, Shroba has served in various operations and engineering leadership roles including distribution supervisor, transmission and distribution superintendent, network operations superintendent, and field operations manager. Most recently, he served as senior director of operations for the company’s northern region, in which he was responsible for maintaining water operating systems serving 32 municipalities and managing a staff of 100 union and non-union employees.

Dr. Keanna Lynette Ralph is a native and lifelong resident of Camden, New Jersey with a passion for people and community enrichment. She has committed a great deal of her spare time volunteering in the Camden City community and beyond. This includes time serving on the Camden District Council Collaborative Board, Rutgers Alumni Association, and her church’s nonprofit board, the Victory Group. Currently, Dr. Keanna is committed to the efforts of the Camden Water Equity Taskforce as a lead for the Workforce Development Subcommittee. Dr. Keanna is a graduate of Rutgers University where she received her B.A. and M.P.A. More recently she completed her doctoral studies at Regent University’s School of Business and Leadership. Now as a leadership and lifestyle consultant, she enjoys spending the majority of her time helping to transform organizations and individual lives.

Mr. Potosnak serves as executive director of New Jersey League of Conservation Voters, the leading political voice for the environment. He was awarded a highly competitive Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellowship to serve on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, where he crafted policies designed to improve our nation’s health and competitiveness. He is also chair of the New Jersey Keep It Green Coalition, New Jersey state lead for the Coalition for the Delaware River Watershed, a part-time lecturer at Rutgers University, a member of the Rutgers Glee Club Alumni Advisory Committee, and president of the Franklin Township Board of Education.

Ms. Perry manages New Jersey Future’s Mainstreaming Green Infrastructure program, which assists communities, developers, and design professionals in using green stormwater infrastructure. She also coordinates the Green Infrastructure Committee of the Jersey Water Works collaborative, which is working to upgrade New Jersey’s water infrastructure with cost-effective, sustainable solutions, and she coordinates the City of Trenton’s Municipal Action Team for community engagement and outreach on green infrastructure. Prior to joining New Jersey Future, Ms. Perry worked on brownfield redevelopment at the City of Camden Redevelopment Agency.

Mr. Perry joined the Township Committee in 2017. He is currently serving as mayor for 2019. Prior to joining the Township Committee, Mayor Perry was a member of the Middletown Township Planning Board. He was also a trustee of the Middletown Township Library Board. After graduating from Temple University, Mr. Perry joined the Sandy Recovery Division of the Governor’s Office, coordinating recovery efforts with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Office of Emergency Management, the Department of Community Affairs, and the Department of Environmental Protection. He also served as chief of staff to Senator Joseph M. Kyrillos from 2014-2018.

Mr. Mugdan previously served as director of the Emergency and Remedial Response Division, heading up the region’s Superfund, emergency response, and brownfields programs (2008-2017); director of the Division of Environmental Planning and Protection, managing the Region’s air, water, hazardous waste, and environmental review programs (2002-2008); and as Deputy Regional Counsel and then Regional Counsel for Region 2 (1985-2002). He joined EPA in 1975 as a staff attorney, and subsequently served in various supervisory positions in the legal office, including chief of the units responsible for Superfund, RCRA, TSCA, FIFRA and the Clean Air Act.

Ms. Mitchell draws on her background as a Camden native, as well as her education and experience, to bring a keen and unique perspective to her work in community planning and neighborhood revitalization at Cooper’s Ferry Partnership. She joined the Cooper’s Ferry Partnership staff as a graduate intern in 2003 and took the helm as vice president of neighborhood initiatives in 2010. She has played a key role in broadening the organization’s mission to address planning and redevelopment efforts in Camden’s neighborhoods, overseeing the development of plans and implementation of key neighborhood projects with a high level of community input and participation.

Mr. Mahon graduated from Lafayette College in 2004 with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and is currently a licensed professional engineer in both Pennsylvania and Delaware. He spent the first 12 years of his professional career working in the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) Division of Land Use Regulation as an environmental engineer, where he was responsible for reviewing the engineering aspects of land use regulation applications to ensure compliance with the Flood Hazard Area Control Act rules, coastal zone management rules, stormwater management rules, and Freshwater Wetlands Protection Act rules. For the last three years, he has worked in NJDEP’s Division of Water Quality, where he is now the chief of the Bureau of Nonpoint Pollution Control. He is responsible for managing the stormwater permitting, groundwater, wastewater management, and municipal stormwater regulation programs.

Mr. Keller is a socially engaged arts educator with 20 years of experience in arts education and production. He is committed to using arts to examine complex issues, and to integrate arts into a wide variety of interdisciplinary areas, from the environment to violence prevention and community development. At coLAB Arts, Mr. Keller facilitates joint project design and curriculum development for programming, including interview-based theater world premieres and full-scale performance immersives. He has coordinated and developed community response methods used in issue- and place-based mural creation. This work has culminated in original works on immigration, environmental impact, and cross-cultural identity. His additional program development and administration projects include community-based storytelling workshops and slams, oral history collection and archiving for quantitative arts-based research, original musical creation, choreography residencies, bilingual theater education and production, and in-school theater education residencies.

Ms. Elliott’s career focuses on helping water and wastewater utilities tell their stories. At Raftelis, she consults with utilities to provide communication planning, stakeholder engagement, and risk communications. She previously directed public relations departments at two large Colorado utilities: Denver Water and Aurora Water. As the AWWA president-elect, Ms. Elliott has a new avenue to elevate the conversation about the value of the services utilities provide.

Ms. Denk started the Parks for People Philadelphia and Camden programs at The Trust for Public Land. The Trust for Public Land’s mission is to create parks and protect land for people, ensuring healthy, livable communities for generations to come. The Parks for People program aims to advance community cohesion, climate resilience, and community health through the development of community places such as parks, green schoolyards, green alleys, and trails in the public realm. With more than 20 years of experience in public space and green infrastructure design and development, Ms. Denk focuses on creative community empowerment through sustainable design, development, and stewardship.

Mr. Daggett served as President and CEO of The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation from 2010 to 2018. He also served as deputy chief of staff to Governor Thomas Kean, regional administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. In addition, he was a managing director of William E. Simon & Sons, a private investment firm, and operated a brownfields development company. He was also a principal with JM Sorge, Inc., an environmental consulting and management firm. Immediately prior to joining the foundation, Mr. Daggett ran as an independent candidate for governor of New Jersey.

Mr. Brune’s primary focus areas at New Jersey Future are stormwater utilities and lead in drinking water, with ancillary work on energy issues and water financing policy. Prior to joining New Jersey Future, he was the chief financial officer at the New Jersey Department of Transportation. He also served as the executive director of the Transportation Trust Fund, developing policy options for program reauthorization. He also previously worked at the New Jersey Office of Management and Budget, rising to the position of associate director. There, he was responsible for developing budget recommendations for transportation, environmental protection, and capital/ infrastructure. During this time, he also served on the New Jersey Commission on Capital Budgeting and Planning.

Ms. Baptista teaches at the Milano School of International Affairs, Management and Urban Policy at The New School. She also serves as director of the Tishman Environment and Design Center at The New School. She previously served as the director of environmental justice and community development at the community-based nonprofit Ironbound Community Corporation in her hometown of Newark, NJ. Her current research includes studies on state-level climate justice policies, municipal zoning and planning measures for environmental justice, and zero waste policies.

Mark Mauriello began his career with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) in May 1980. He was appointed as land use regulation director in 2002 and assistant commissioner in 2006, and in November 2008 he became NJDEP commissioner, replacing newly confirmed U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson. Upon his retirement from NJDEP in January 2010, he formed his own consulting firm, specializing in coastal zone management, floodplain management, land use regulation, and regulatory compliance. He then accepted a position as director of environmental affairs and planning with Edgewood Properties, where he is responsible for overseeing the company’s environmental programs and serving as an advisor on regulatory issues and property acquisitions.

Jane Kenny is founder and managing partner of The Whitman Strategy Group, an all-women firm specializing in environmental and energy issues and government relations. Previously, she served as a regional administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Ms. Kenny has been a top advisor to three governors of New Jersey and served as New Jersey’s commissioner for the Department of Community Affairs. She serves on the board of directors for New Jersey Resources. She is a trustee for New Jersey Future and a visiting associate at the Eagleton Institute at Rutgers University.