Celebrating Emerging Leaders in the Water Industry

Every year WaterWorld and Wastewater Digest receive submissions for our Emerging Leaders program. The editors in the Endeavor B2B water group score each one, and we feature those water industry professionals in the print magazine. This proves a difficult task for us because we see so many truly amazing leaders.

Almost every submission will be a person who has published work, has been a speaker at professional conferences, a member of water associations and their various chapters, won awards, and taken on public service by mentoring those coming behind them by starting their own mentorship programs or taken lead on those already in place.

Beyond that, they have demonstrated leading improvements to their organizations, the profession as a whole, and the communities they serve. And this is all beyond the high level of self-improvement they have carried out once they found a home in water.

I am always humbled not only by these emerging leaders, who will take the reigns in short time from those who have spent their lifetimes improving the water industry, I am humbled by the people who nominate them. It shows how the work they have done and continue to do is observed and valued. It shows how heartfelt the water environment can be. 

It is my absolute pleasure to highlight these water professionals in this issue, I wish we had space for them all, and to everyone out there, I say “Onward!”

Honorable mentions:

Tim Chan, 34 years old, Senior Project Manager at Fehr Graham and Associates, Rockford, IL for giving his time to teach young engineers.

Mathieu Rose, 39 years old, Operations Manager at Waterworks District No. 2, Parish of Beauregard, Singer, LA for his notable creativity and teamwork.

Adam Lawrence, 35 years old, Senior Business Development Manager at Harper General Contractors, Summerville, SC for his U.S. Air Force service as an Operations Director and Assistant professor of Aerospace Studies then blending technical, operational and market expertise.

Dante Moley, 24 years old, Operator II at City of Mandeville Utilities, Mandeville, LA for his daily commitment to water quality, which resulted in securing the LRWA Best Tasting Water Award in July of 2025 for Mandeville.

Read the magazine online today.