Gulf Coast Water Conservation Symposium:
Managing Water Supplies & Achieving Long-Term Revenue Stability
Speakers
Mary Ann Dickinson is the President and CEO of the Alliance for Water Efficiency, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the efficient and sustainable use of water in the United States and Canada. Prior to joining the Alliance in July of 2007, Dickinson was Executive Director of the California Urban Water Conservation Council, and was employed at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. Ms. Dickinson is a graduate of the University of Connecticut. She has authored numerous publications on water conservation, land use planning, and natural resources management, and has co-produced two films which have aired on public television and community cable stations.
Sanjay Gaur is a Senior Manager with Raftelis Financial Consultants, Inc. With more than 15 years of public-sector consulting experience, he has worked extensively providing financial analysis, cost of service studies, and rate structure design for water and wastewater agencies. Mr. Gaur is active in a number of utility-related associations. He is a member of the American Water Works Association’s (AWWA) Rates and Charges Committee and a frequent speaker at national conferences including, AWWA and Utility Management Conference. Mr. Gaur has a Master of Science in Applied Economics from UC Santa Cruz and a Master in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.
Jeff Hughes serves as the director of the Environmental Finance Center (EFC) at the UNC School of Government. His professional experience includes water utility management, research, consulting, financial analysis, university teaching, and professional continuing education. He is the author of numerous reports, guides, and articles on environmental finance and environmental policy analysis subjects. His current teaching load includes over a dozen professional education courses and workshops serving hundreds of consultants, sustainability professionals, utility directors, finance directors, local government managers, and elected officials each year. He is responsible for the design and delivery of the utility finance sessions offered at the National Water and Wastewater Leadership Executive Education Program. Hughes works with a range of state and national organizations that focus on energy, water and watershed finance serving as an expert witness to the EPA Environmental Finance Advisory Board and serving on the Council of Infrastructure Financing Authority’s (CIFA) national training committee. He is an active member of Council of Infrastructure Financing Authorities and the American Water Works Association. Hughes has a Masters Degree in Environmental Engineering from the UNC School of Public Health, and a Bachelors Degree in Engineering from Duke University.
Ken Kramer is the Water Resources Chair of the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club and has been associated with the Sierra Club in different volunteer and professional capacities since 1978. Dr. Kramer has a B.A. in History from Texas Lutheran University, an M.A. in Political Science from Stephen F. Austin State University, and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Rice University. He has taught at El Paso Community College, Houston Community College, Angelo State University, and Texas A&M University. Dr. Kramer has served on numerous advisory committees to state and local agencies and officials, and he was selected by the Texas Water Development Board to serve on the Water Conservation Implementation Task Force.
Jennifer Walker is the Water Resources Coordinator for the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club. Ms. Walker works primarily on the Texas Living Waters Project and focuses on water policy issues across the state with an emphasis state and regional water planning, water conservation and bay and estuary protection. Walker serves on the Lower Colorado Regional Water Planning Group, on Mayor Anise Parker’s Water Conservation Task Force and has served on LCRA’s Water Conservation Task Force. She has a BS in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology from the University of Texas at Austin.