According to the US census bureau in 2018 women made up only 5.8% of operators in the water and wastewater industry, and less than 25% of women are in utility work overall. Join our panel of dynamic women as they share their experiences with advocacy and mentorship, and the benefits that women bring to our industry.
Hear more about their passionate insights and tips for increasing engagement, championing, and how to elevate women’s leadership in the workplace through internal/external programs and groups. Most importantly this discussion is for everyone. People of any gender or position can do small things to make a big impact.
This one hour webinar is part of California Water Professionals Appreciation Week. (Note the webinar takes place in November.)
The webinar is supported by: ACWA, CASA, CA-NV AWWA, CWEA and BAYWORK
Wednesday, November 3
11:00 a.m. – Noon
Register here >
Download the event flyer >
Panel facilitator Karoline Terraza is the Organizational Performance Manger at Union Sanitary District. USD is a wastewater treatment plant that serves over 350,000 customers in Union City, Fremont, Newark. She provides oversight to the Districts’ strategic planning, continuous improvement, emergency, and training programs. She holds a Master’s degree in Adult Education and has over 20 years of organizational development and training experience. Karoline is Chair of BAYWORK’s Women in the Trades Committee and a CWEA member.
Lisa Haney is the Manager of Regulatory Compliance at Irvine Ranch Water District (IRWD). Ms. Haney started her career as a Marine Biologist and professional Scuba Diver in 2001 with Los Angeles County Sanitation focusing on NPDES compliance and Ocean Monitoring. With increased time and experience on water and wastewater projects and environmental compliance she moved to Orange County Sanitation in 2010 to lead several environmental programs and serve as the Water Regulatory Lead for water policy while spearheading collaboration in the Stormwater/Wastewater nexus and One Water forum. Ms. Haney has now shifted to a role of leadership as Regulatory Manager at IRWD and as Executive Director for California Integrated Water Association. Ms. Haney has served on the California Association of Sanitation Agencies (CASA) Regulatory and Water committees and is the current water chair for the Southern California Alliance of Publicly Owned Treatment Works (SCAP). She is dedicated to leadership and mentorship at all levels as a core value.
Laurie Brenner is a veteran quality practitioner with over 30 years of experience in operations, internal auditing, strategic planning, statistical process improvement, team-building and performance measurement, currently employed as the Finance and Acquisition Services Coach at the Union Sanitary District.
Laurie has an M.B.A., holds Wastewater Grade V certification in California, and is both a Certified Quality Auditor and Certified Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point Auditor with the American Society for Quality. Laurie is also a credentialed Career Technical Educator (CTE) teacher in California and teaches Wastewater Operations for the local regional occupational program at the Castro Valley Adult & Career Education Center (CVACE).
Amber Baylor has a B.A. in Biology with a minor in Chemistry from Lindsey Wilson College and a Master of Science in Environmental Science and Policy from Johns Hopkins University. Ms. Baylor spent 10 years managing a water quality laboratory for a water and wastewater utility servicing over 150,000 service connections. Ms. Baylor now serves as the Director of Environmental Compliance for a utility with a service area of 500,000 people.
Wendy Wert, PE, BCEE is a Board Certified Environmental Engineer with the Sanitation Districts. For the past 20 years she has been working on programs that rely on public participation to integrate water supply, water reuse with wastewater facilities planning. She received a B.S. in Environmental Engineering and an M.S. in Water Resources Engineering from the University of Central Florida (UCF). Her studies gave her opportunities to collaborate with others. It was during this time that Wendy developed an interest in effectively communicating math and science to diverse groups. Today, she uses her position as an engineer to support outreach and education programs that explain how the work of the Sanitation Districts identifies community needs then applies engineering and scientific principles to meet them.
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