June 17, 2008 -
Mike Leonard, water operations manager for City of Roswell, GA, has devoted his career to safe water and has been honored with multiple awards, including AWWA George Warren Fuller Award and Diamond Pin. Leonard's top priorities for the year include promoting value of water professionals and their work, recruiting new water professionals to replace retirements, increasing member participation in AWWA, and strengthening Section-Association cooperation.
Mike Leonard Assumes Presidency of American Water Works Association
(Atlanta, GA) - Mike Leonard, water operations manager for the City of Roswell, Georgia, assumed the presidency of the American Water Works Association (AWWA) on Wednesday night. His one-year term as president of AWWA, the world's largest and oldest water organization, began at a Gavel Passing Ceremony held during AWWA's Annual Convention and Exposition (ACE08).
"As water professionals and citizens of the planet, we have an obligation to be the very best stewards we can be of our water resources, our systems, and our public health," said Leonard, who has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Georgia Section of AWWA, and has been an AWWA member since 1974. "I thank you all so much for having the opportunity to serve as your president as we take on these challenges together."
Leonard has devoted his career to safe water and has been honored with multiple awards, including the AWWA George Warren Fuller Award (2001) and Diamond Pin (2002), as well as three bronze medals and several special achievement awards from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). He has served with distinction as general manager and chief administrative officer for the Atlanta-Fulton County Water Resources Commission, chief of the drinking water section at USEPA, and client technical services manager at Brown and Caldwell.
Leonard succeeds Nilaksh Kothari, general manager of public utilities for Manitowoc, Wisconsin, as AWWA president. The new president-elect is Craig Woolard, treatment division director of the Anchorage (Alaska) Water and Wastewater Utility.
"Mike is going to be a superb leader for AWWA," Kothari said. "Over the past year I've had the opportunity to work closely with him and get to know him better as both a colleague and a friend. His depth of experience in the water community - from utilities to EPA to the consulting world - makes him the right man for the job at just the right moment."
After he accepted the president's gavel from Kothari, Leonard outlined his top priorities for the year, including promoting the value of water professionals and their work, recruiting new water professionals to replace an expected wave of industry retirements, increasing member participation in AWWA, and strengthening Section-Association cooperation.
AWWA is the authoritative resource for knowledge, information, and advocacy to improve the quality and supply of water in North America and beyond. AWWA is the largest organization of water professionals in the world. AWWA advances public health, safety and welfare by uniting the efforts of the full spectrum of the entire water community. Through our collective strength we become better stewards of water for the greatest good of the people and the environment.
Company Information: Name: American Water Works Association Address: 6666 W. Quincy Ave City: Denver State: CO ZIP: 80235 Country: USA Phone: 303-794-7711 http://www.awwa.org
News provided by ThomasNet Industrial Newsroom® (TIN). TIN is a comprehensive source
of new and timely product information in the industrial marketplace. TIN supplies new product
information to the web sites, e-marketplaces and print publications that serve the
industrial marketplace. For press release submissions please go to
http://www.productnews.com/SubmitPRPage.html.
BY ACCESSING, BROWSING AND/OR USING THIS WEB SITE AND/OR ANY WEB SITES PROVIDED BY
ProductNews.com, YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS OF USE
AGREEMENT.
