The program committee is pleased to announce the Guest Speakers for this year’s 2017 ISA Water/Wastewater and Automatic Controls Symposium:
(see also program schedule)
Critical Considerations for Successfully Transitioning to a “Smart Utility”: Implementing Intelligent Water Systems
Corey Williams and Barry Liner will deliver a talk about the next generation of utility employees and customers. In the coming years, the growing population and workforce will shift from Baby Boomers to the emergence of Millennials. With this change in atmosphere, society is demanding an instantaneous and on-demand life style. Smart Utilities, or Intelligent Water Systems (IWS), seek to leverage this demand for knowledge in as close to real time, in order to provide valuable services to their customers and more efficiently and effectively manage their infrastructure. – view abstract
Hands-On Instrumentation Workshop
Charles Aycock, Melody White, Tracy Doane-Weideman, Bob Dabkowski and Steve Smith will provide vendor-neutral fundamentals of analyzers along with how they can be integrated into different strategies for process control in water and wastewater processes. Hands-on exercises will be used to demonstrate analyzer technology limitations, misapplications, and trouble-shooting. Proper instrument placement for different process configurations will also be presented. – view abstract
AWWA Current News and Trends
Michael Sweeney will cover a variety of topics of regional and national interest to the water industry, including water conservation monitoring and performance and near term and long-term water quality and supply concerns in Central Florida.
About the Speakers:
Corey Williams, WWAC2017 Guest Speaker
Corey Williams currently serves as President and CEO of Optimatics, a metaheuristic optimization software provider for the water industry. Prior to his role at Optimatics, Corey served for ten (10) years as Vice President and General Manager of Inflection Point Solutions, a software development and management consulting firm also serving the water industry and for thirteen (13) years at Black & Veatch leading the firm’s Utility Information Systems Department.
With comprehensive experience in both business and technology strategies, Corey understands the challenges faced by today’s utility and is able to translate the corresponding needs to viable technology solutions. He has served as Project Manager or Executive-in-Charge of over 125 projects for water utilities in the US, Australia, and Europe.
Corey has authored more than seventy-five (75) papers and conference presentations and is active in many industry professional associations and research initiatives related to the application of technology to drive business value in utilities. Highlights include:
- Co-Founder and Moderator: Water and Wastewater CIO Forum (2006-present)
- Co-Founder and Moderator: Water and Wastewater CFO Forum (2015-present)
- Co-Author, Water Environment Federation: Automation of Water Resource Recovery Facilities, Manual of Practice 21, 4th Edition (2013)
- Co-Principal Investigator, Water Research Foundation: High Performing Information Systems Aligned with Utility Business Strategy (2011)
- Co-Author, Water Environment Federation: Information Technology in Water and Wastewater Facilities, Manual of Practice 33 (2010)
- Co-Principal Investigator, Water Research Foundation: Optimizing Information Technology Solutions for Water Utilities (2009)
Corey is a registered Professional Engineer in Kansas with a degree in Civil Engineering from Kansas State University.
Barry Liner, WWAC2017 Guest Speaker
Barry Liner, Ph.D., P.E., BCEE is the director of WEF’s Water Science & Engineering Center. Since joining WEF in 2010, he has been responsible for leading WEF’s innovation initiative, including the Innovation Pavilion at WEFTEC, the world’s largest water quality conference. He also represents the water sector on the development of the ISA certification, Certified Mission Critical Professional (CMCP).
Before WEF, Liner served as Assistant Professor and Director of International Engineering Programs at George Mason University, where he founded Engineers for International Development and also helped develop and deliver a groundbreaking Public Sector Entrepreneurship graduate program for the US Army Corps of Engineers. A licensed Lead Appraiser by the CMMI Institute, he has led nearly 50 CMMI appraisals, including the world’s first CMMI for Services appraisal to be quality approved by the Software Engineering Institute (SEI). Previously, he led change management efforts at AEM Corporation and managed support regulatory support projects for the USEPA’s Office of Water and IT projects for both public and private sector clients.
Liner also worked at Black & Veatch, where he delivered management consulting services focusing on operational efficiency, public private partnerships, benchmarking and strategic finance to over 30 water and wastewater utilities and research organizations throughout the US, Canada, Mexico, and Peru. He also served at the World Bank, developing a protocol to monitor and evaluate progress towards the water and sanitation targets of the Millennium Development Goals. Liner began his professional career as a product manager for a water quality instrumentation manufacturer.
Barry earned his Ph.D. in IT & Civil Engineering from George Mason University. He received a graduate certificate in business administration from Georgetown University, an MS in urban systems engineering from George Mason University, and graduated with BA in economics from Virginia Tech. He is a licensed professional engineer (PE) and board certified environmental engineer (BCEE).
Charles Aycock, WWAC2017 Instrumentation Instructor
Charles Aycock has been with the City of Roseville for over 20 years. During this time he has managed numerous capital, development and technology projects for the City’s water and wastewater utilities. Charles is a member of AWWA, WEF, ISA, and NFPA, and is a WEF Automation and Information Technology Committee member.
Melody White: Application Development Manager – Hach Company
Melody White, WWAC2017 Instrumentation Instructor
Tracy Doane-Weideman: US Marketing Manager,, Analysis Products – Endress + Hauser
Tracy Doane-Weidman, WWAC2017 Instrumentation Instructor
Bob Dabkowski, WWAC2017 Instrumentation Instructor
Bob Dabkowski: Application Development Manager – Hach Company
Steve Smith, WWAC2017 Instrumentation Instructor
Steve Smith: Product Marketing Manager – Endress + Hauser
Michael Sweeney, WWAC2017 Guest Speaker
Michael Sweeney, PhD is the Deputy Executive Director of Toho Water Authority and has 30 years’ experience with water and wastewater utilities serving Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Louisville. He has also provided consulting services in the areas of utility management and technology throughout the U.S. and Canada. He is a registered professional engineer and holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Environmental Engineering from Purdue University and a B.S. degree in Public Health from Indiana University. Memberships include ISA, AWWA and WEF. He is a member of the AWWA Utility Benchmarking Steering Committee.