Leadership academy helping advance water workforce, sustain communities

Forty-two water professionals who recently graduated from the Transformative Water Leadership Academy (TWLA) are ready to invest their knowledge and enthusiasm into communities across North America.

“Having completed TWLA, I am armed with the appropriate tools, data, and techniques to approach management with the policies I feel are most important to our utility,” said participant Kelly Bourque, senior project engineer with the City of Santa Barbara. “I’ve also learned many other ways to support the programs and policies I believe in on a small, personal level and in my own community.”

Bourque and the other participants made up the first cohort to complete the 10-month emerging leadership program, developed by the American Water Works Association (AWWA) and the WaterNow Alliance, aimed at advancing the water community’s workforce. Applications for the upcoming 2024 TWLA are due Sept. 4. (Pictured from left: Melissa Gray and Gabriel Evans, TWLA graduates, Shunda Boykins and Gwen Henry.)

“Programs like this are so imperative for the water community because we’re truly competing with everyone in the workforce to attract future leaders,” said Cheryl Porter, AWWA president-elect, who spoke at the TWLA graduation ceremony in early August. “One of the vulnerabilities of the water sector is our workforce, and we need to invest in it as soon as possible so we can train leaders rather than throw them in the deep end to figure it out on their own.”

TWLA, funded in part through a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is geared toward preparing a diverse, next generation of water utility leaders to address emerging water issues and develop innovative approaches to serve community needs. Sessions are held virtually and in-person, including opportunities for smaller group discussions and one-on-one mentoring from current leaders in the water sector.

Another recent TWLA graduate is Emily Stahl, manager of technical services for the City of Guelph, Ontario. “From a Canadian, thank you for the opportunity,” she said. “I learned not only how to strengthen my leadership skills and determine my path in water leadership, but also learned more about some core foundational skills like environmental justice and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), which I would have not had the opportunity to do otherwise.”

Applicants for the 2024 program should have 3-10 years of work experience and some supervisory/management experience, including a minimum of two years in the water sector. TWLA seeks participants representing a wide range of regions, races/ethnicities, career experiences and socioeconomic backgrounds. The program offers a tuition model based on the population size of a utility and is free for utilities serving less than 50,000 people. 

Applications and more information are available on AWWA’s Transformative Water Leadership Academy resource page. The 2024 TWLA will take place January-October 2024.