This June, WaterNow convened water leaders from across the country in Denver, Colorado, for our annual Emerging Leader Awards Ceremony and Network Convening. We honored the 2025 Emerging Leader cohort during an evening reception, then gathered a broader network of water professionals for day-long leadership development workshop. It was an energizing few days, as rising water leaders from across the country came together to connect, reflect, and consider the next steps in their professional journeys.
Now in its fifth year, WaterNow’s Emerging Leader Awards recognize rising professionals who are making an impact in the water sector, driving innovative, environmentally-sustainable and community-centered initiatives at their utilities. This year’s five awardees each received a $1,500 stipend to support their professional development—funds that are already being used to attend conferences, pursue degrees and certifications, and advance careers. This outstanding cohort’s work spans green infrastructure, workforce development, community trust-building, water affordability, and resilient landscaping in communities across the country. They represent the future of water leadership.
George Hawkins provides keynote remarks at the Awards Ceremony.
The Awards Ceremony
On June 11, after the conclusion of AWWA’s Annual Conference and Exposition (ACE), we had the honor of presenting the Emerging Leader Award to five remarkable awardees. Hosted in the beautiful Denver Performing Arts Complex, the awards ceremony brought people together from across the water sector and the country to support this year’s award recipients.
The Emerging Leaders accept their Awards!
George Hawkins, CEO of Moonshot Missions, delivered a keynote address emphasizing the power of one person to make a difference, even against the backdrop of resistance to change and during tumultuous times. George is a uniquely inspiring individual whose leadership helped to transform DC Water into a trailblazing innovator during his time as General Manager, and whose efforts with Moonshot have allowed those innovations to be carried forward to utilities across the country. We were glad to have him join us to present the Emerging Leader Awards this year. Maggie Rwakazina of Spring Point Partners also joined us to express her excitement for the work the Emerging Leaders have done, and we thank her for being a champion of this program.
Maggie Rwakazina speaks on the support Spring Point Partners has provided for the Emerging Leaders Program.
The Emerging Leader Award recipients shared some details about their work through short videos co-produced with WaterNow, highlighting the efforts for which they received the Award. Each awardee also shared a few words from the heart, and we were impressed – but not surprised – by their passion and insight about what it means to be a leader in the water sector. Click the images below to view their videos and hear about their work in their own words:
The Emerging Leader Network Convening
On June 12, WaterNow hosted an in-person convening with the Emerging Leader awardees and other water sector and municipal professionals. Participants gathered at Colorado State University’s (CSU) state-of-the-art Spur Campus in Denver for panel discussions, breakout exercises, and networking. The program focused on three main themes: Building Relationships with Utility Leadership, Growing Community Trust, and Workforce and Leadership Development. Each session started with a panel discussion with experts, leading into questions, discussions and interactive activities. Participants practiced pitching innovative ideas to management, envisioning how to build trust and collaborate with their communities, and promoting professional development within their utilities.
Presentations and activities at the Emerging Leader Convening.
We are grateful to all our speakers, who volunteered their time to share their expertise with respect to the themes of the Emerging Leader program. Throughout the day, the participants had the chance to hear from speakers on their unique approaches to the challenges that water leaders face, and work together in discussion, activities, and collective creation of knowledge on our key themes.
In the morning, Mike Kasperzak (Former Mayor, Mountain View CA), Kate Volz (City and County of Broomfield, CO), and Heather Sackett (City of Westminster, CO) held a conversation that ranged from the importance of buy-in from elected leaders to strategies for navigating the sector as a woman in water. Participants had a chance to practice pitching some examples of innovative initiatives to our panel of “judges,” adding Matt Appelbaum (Former Mayor, Boulder, CO) to the mix. We heard about social media strategy and public presence from Chelsea Boozer (Rogue Water Lab), Andy Kricun (Moonshot Missions), Heather Sackett (City of Westminster, CO), and Amanda Jones (Tucson Water) before practicing some visioning to explore what excellent community relationships would look like.
Panel Discussions and reflection at the Convening.
In the afternoon, we closed out the day with presentations from Nicole Brown (Black Water Professionals Alliance) and Karen Schlatter (Colorado Water Center), each representing perspectives from different areas of the workforce development ecosystem. Participants continued with a full group discussion of workforce development efforts at their own utilities to close out the day.
We are thankful to our special guests Quint Redmond (Agriburbia) and Jen Bousselot (Colorado State University) for leading a tour of the campus’ green roofs and highlighting the buildings’ sustainable design – a highlight of the day!
The group tours the beautiful green roof on the CSU Spur Terra and Hydro buildings.
What’s Next?
Our Awards Ceremony and Convening may be over, but the Emerging Leader programming is not. Our awardees and members of the Emerging Leader Network will join virtual peer calls over the coming months to continue networking and learning amongst the cohort. WaterNow will continue to foster their professional growth and support their work going forward, a key tenet of the Emerging Leader program. We know that this year’s cohort will continue their important work at home and help educate their broader network. We’d like to share another big thank you with our funder Spring Point Partners, who have supported us in building this program from a simple Awards initiative to the comprehensive celebration and support for Emerging Leaders that we’re able to provide today!
Lifting up the water utility staff who are doing the work every day to create a sustainable future for the industry, celebrating their achievements, and supporting their continued professional growth, is just one piece of the work we have ahead of us. Thanks for reading, and consider signing up for our email list, getting involved, or becoming a member of WaterNow (it’s free!) to learn more about everything we do. Check our website later this year for the nominations period for the 2026 Emerging Leaders, coming this winter!