Eileen O’Neill works on issues of water, innovation, and leadership and is currently a Founding Partner with Water Principles, LLC.  She also serves on the Board for Global Environmental Credentialing and is a member of the inaugural Board of Directors for The Water Tower at Gwinnett, that is developing a water innovation campus, located just outside Atlanta, GA.

Before setting up her own company in September 2019, Dr. O’Neill was Executive Director of the Water Environment Federation (WEF), an international organization of water quality professionals headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, (U.S) and the organizer of WEFTEC, the world’s largest annual water quality conference and exhibition.  In that capacity,  she led a staff of more than 100, oversaw an annual budget of  $28+ million, and served as the Secretary of the Federation’s Board of Trustees.

At WEF for 28 years, Dr. O’Neill served as Executive Director for more than six.  During her WEF career, she held a variety of positions overseeing programs including as the only female and only non-engineer to serve as WEF’s staff technical lead, its Chief Technical Officer.  While she was Executive Director, WEF launched a number of major initiatives including ReNEW (that established baselines for and tools to accelerate resource recovery  from wastewater), and the National Green Infrastructure Certification Program (NGICP) that certifies professionals that work in green infrastructure construction, inspection, and maintenance.  She believes in the power of research and science and also of partnership and collaboration and brought this to her work at WEF and as an officer of the Water Environment Research Foundation and the Water Environment & Reuse Foundation.  She is passionate about growing the cadre of women leaders in the water sector and beyond.  

Before joining WEF, Dr. O’Neill spent ten years in academia and environmental consulting in the U.S. and in Europe.    She worked on issues ranging from fate and transport of pesticides and other contaminants, to corporate environmental risk management, and environmental insurance claims. 

With a B.S. in Soil Science from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (U.K.), and a Ph.D. in Soil Science from the University of Aberdeen (U.K), Dr. O’Neill undertook a one-year postdoctoral traineeship in environmental toxicology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and holds the Board Certified Environmental Scientist Credential (with a specialty certification in environmental chemistry) from the American Academy of Environmental Engineers & Scientists. 

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Gabriela Espinoza is Legal Counsel for Sulzer RES and an alumna of the University of Houston with a Master’s Degree in Law.  Gabriela has overall 15 years of experience in legal counseling, Contract Management, and law-related services ranging from domestic to international issues with great expertise in contract drafting and negotiation for the Pumps and Turbo Machinery Industry.  In her spare time, she greatly enjoys spending time with the kids and family, traveling and just relaxing.

Kristel Zaman is Senior Manager with Xylem Inc. She is responsible for Flygt products in America's region. Kristel is known as a speaker and contributor to Hydraulic Institute, and number of water and wastewater related conferences and associations. Kristel holds an Engineering degree from Tallinn Technical University in Estonia and a Master’s of Science in Strategic Marketing from the Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, NY.

Kelly is a 3rd generation industrial manufacturer with 15 years of B2B sales and media experience. She began her professional career in broadcast media, earning a degree from Texas Tech University in Broadcast Journalism and English while completing internships at both KRBE radio in Houston and KCBD-TV in Lubbock. After college, she was hired by KCBD-TV and quickly promoted to Assignment Editor, where she chose which stories would receive coverage and assigned newsroom assets. On the weekends, she worked for KMMX as a DJ where she hosted ‘The Totally 80s Weekend’. Then, Kelly was a National Account Executive with Clear Channel Communications in San Antonio before pursuing a graduate degree in Marketing and Financial Planning from Texas Tech. Upon completion, Kelly managed all marketing and sales operations at her family’s 125 person industrial manufacturing business. During her tenure, she consistently produced double digit growth and was ultimately promoted to President, with authority over all operations, company-wide. In 2016 she was featured in a cover story as a ‘Legacy Leader’ by the National Association of Manufacturers, and in 2017 she was honored with the ‘Service Award’ by the Valve Manufacturers Association of America.

Morgan Brown is a Technical Programs Manager at the Water Environment Federation, within the Water Science and Engineering Center. She is the staff manager for both the Water Reuse and Municipal Resource Recovery Design committees. She also supports a number of WEF’s initiatives regarding resource recovery, nutrients, innovation, and diversity and inclusion in the water workforce. Earlier this year, Morgan was accepted to participate in the WEF Water Leadership Institute and will graduate at WEFTEC 2019. Morgan has a bachelor’s degree in biology and environmental sciences from the University of Virginia, and is currently pursuing a Masters in Environmental Sciences and Policy at Johns Hopkins University.

Gina Simpson is a native of Alabama and a multiple graduate of The University of Alabama. She has spent her career as a serial entrepreneur founding, managing and growing several companies. Mrs. Simpson, a certified professional coach, enjoys using her entrepreneurial experience to grow and foster businesses. Currently, she is the President of Regina Holdings, LLC, a consulting and investment firm, and Soluna Strategies, a professional coaching firm. In addition to a business owner, consultant, and coach, Mrs. Simpson is a Professor at The University of Alabama in Entrepreneurship. Gina and her husband, Mark, began their entrepreneurial journey in the field of construction and have founded six businesses over the last 18 years. She was awarded the Rising Star Entrepreneurship Award by the West Alabama Chamber of Commerce and the Roots and Wings Award by the Women in Business Council. She is very active in the community serving on several boards. Mrs. Simpson holds a B.S. in Management with a concentration in Small Company Management and Entrepreneurship and an M.S. in Marketing. She has been married for 19 years and has two daughters, which she hails as her greatest accomplishments.

Chrishelle Rogers serves as Vice President for the Commercial Pump Business Unit at Taco Comfort Solutions. In this role, Chrishelle is responsible for the stewardship of the commercial operations including: product management, supply chain, production, product life-cycle engineering and various departmental projects.  She leads the new product development process, which is largely focused on the development of highly innovative and efficient products positioned across the commercial heating and cooling markets.  Additionally, she partners with the sales team to drive customer engagement by visiting with customers, giving hands-on product training, and speaking at industry conferences. Through her work in different economic regions worldwide, she has a strong understanding of global business challenges. Prior to Taco, Chrishelle worked at Dover Corporation and Xylem, Inc in various management roles.

A Denver, Colorado native, Chrishelle holds a Bachelor of Sciences Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a Master of Business Administration from Brown University and IE University located in Madrid, Spain. In her free time, Chrishelle enjoys playing golf, spending time with her family and supporting STEM programs that focus on the development of girls in math and science.

Christy Bermensolo, Co-owner of Engineered Software, Inc. She joined in 2006 from Intel Corporation, where she advanced from a chassis and component design engineer to a senior engineer on Thermal and Mechanical System Integration. Her work spanned from large server systems, including the first IA-64 bit server, to enabling components and desktop architecture design. During this time, Bermensolo is credited for developing a patent for a connector (#6,146,176) used in the interconnection of the CPU to Memory Module on the first IA-64bit Itanium server. As the Vice President of Engineering at Engineered Software, she devoted her expertise to managing and developing a team of engineers to create technical collateral to support product development, training products and technical publications. She was also instrumental in developing interdepartmental processes to aid in the development of world class software products for the fluid handling industry. Currently, Bermensolo leads a talented management team dedicated to relentless customer focus, the innovative development of our products and the advancement and empowerment of our employees. Through transparent and efficient business operations, Bermensolo is the leading force behind ESI’s emphasis on solving the technical challenges of the fluid hydraulics industry. Bermensolo serves on the Pump Systems Matter (PSM) board, a non-profit educational affiliate of the Hydraulic Institute. PSM works to build awareness of the importance of pump system optimization with pump manufacturers, pump users and pump system operations. Previously, Bermensolo was the team captain of her swim team at the University of New Mexico, where she earned a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering. She has also earned an MBA from The Foster School of Business at the University of Washington in June 2015. Her other passions include her family, skiing, bike touring and triathlons.

Elle has over three years of environmental engineering experience that includes water and wastewater facility planning, design, rehabilitation, cost analysis, and construction. She excels in the development of innovative solutions, plans and specifications for bidding and construction, and has experience in design-build project services including technical oversight of shop drawing submittals and interpretation of construction requirements.  Elle is a member of the Steering Committee for Empowering Women in Industry and shares the organization’s goal to celebrate, educate, and empower women.  As a member of the Women’s Leadership Team at CP&Y, she helped create and launch a mentoring program within her company.  A newly-wed as of October last year, she spends as much time as she can with her husband, grilling, taking weekend road trips, and hiking.

Jennifer Anderson is the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) Director at The University of Alabama. She developed and implemented the OLLI at UA program thirteen years ago with the advice, experience, and direction of an advisory board.  She has also managed over 1000 events and conferences during her 16-year tenure at UA which included overseeing the Bryant Conference Center.   She has been looked upon as an “out of the box” thinker and idea generator in the industry of lifelong learning and small businesses known to many as the “gig” industry.

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Her previous work experience includes teaching Secondary Education Language Arts, Managing Store operations for the Limited Corporation, Retail and Food Service Director for the launch of Visionland Theme Park and Director of Bama Dining Food Service at The University of Alabama.   Jennifer received her B.A. in Education from The University of Alabama along with her Masters in in Human and Environmental Sciences from the University of Alabama with a concentration in conflict resolution.   Jennifer serves the community as a board member on the Police Athletic League, Shelton State Community College Foundation, and the Holy Spirit Athletic Association.  Jennifer has made an impact through her work and service.  She was chosen by The University of Alabama as the Professional Staff Employee of the Year for 2015.  She was also awarded in 2016 from the Circle K organization as the community leader and partner of the year.  Jennifer’s family which consists of six children is known as the modern day Brady Bunch.  She and her husband Steve reside in Tuscaloosa, AL. 

Maria Elena Rodriguez Hernandez is a Water Engineering Director at Indar, Ingeteam Group, with +23 years of experience in the field of Turbomachinery and Water Engineering. Elena is based in Zarautz, Basque Country in Spain and is a mechanical, hydraulic, and civil engineer who is currently completing a course in the University about Management and Direction of Water Companies. Elena is an active advocate for women in Engineering Fields and Technical careers, serving as a founding member of the Empowering Women in Industry steering committee. She is passionate about travel, photography, and Water Megastructures.

Rachel works an Application Engineer at Verder, Inc. In her role, she enjoys working with the team to provide customers with the perfect pump for their application. This includes learning process details and effectively communicating the pump technology.

Rachel Molnar is a graduate from Mercer University who majored in Biomedical Engineering, after developing a passion for calculus, physics, and biomechanics. A couple highlights of Rachel’s collegiate career were traveling with Mercer to Vietnam to fit amputees with prosthetics and coordinating an international conference for the Coalition of Collegiate Women’s Leadership. 

Rachel was born and raised near Atlanta, GA. Having grown up as a competitive swimmer, she enjoys exercise but, more importantly, thrives while working in a team environment. On weekends, she can be found spending time with family and friends or cultivating her love of the outdoors by section hiking parts of the Appalachian Trail. During baseball season, Rachel can be found watching her favorite team, the Baltimore Orioles, nearly every night, and during the off-season she can be found reading a book.

Jackie Henderson is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor with a specialization in holistic practices. Jackie is also a fitness trainer and dance choreographer of over 30 years. She inspires many with her high-energy & innovative classes, personal development workshops, coaching, and counseling. The MIST program is a natural evolution of her love and commitment of integrating health & wellness on a mind, body, and soul level.  It is Jackie’s intention to guide people to their full potential through holistic practice & inspiration.

A graduate of the University of Texas at Arlington, Yolanda has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Communications with a specialization in Broadcast Journalism. She has an extensive background in B2B marketing, communications, and public relations. As a marketer, she is a passionate brand advocate and has worked over the past two decades helping leading companies build engaging brands and telling their stories. 

Yolanda is a member of the American Water Works Association (AWWA), Empowering Women, Manufacturing Alliance for Productivity and Innovation (MAPI) Marketing Council and the U.S. Conference of Mayors Water Council.

Jennifer Cardillo works for Sulzer and is the Marcom Director for the rotating equipment services division in the Americas and for the global turbo product line. She has spent her career in a variety of roles including working as an artist for several years. Jennifer enjoys being a dynamic, strategic, creative and solution-focused international Marcom Manager. Via her career, Jennifer’s number one mantra is to inspire people.

Suzane Greeman, CMQ/OE, CAMA, CAMP, CMRP is the

President and Principal Asset Management Advisor of Greeman

Asset Management Solutions Inc (GAMSINC), a firm

headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She is the author of “Risk-

based Asset Criticality Assessment (R-b ACA©) Handbook”.

Suzane is a senior asset management consultant and instructor

in North America. An accomplished asset management leader with over 22 years of

experience, Suzane has worked across several asset management disciplines to

implement asset management strategies for cement manufacturing, power generation,

wastewater treatment, and airport assets.