Donahue Named AWWA President-Elect

The American Water Works Association, the largest organization of water professionals in the world, announced that John Donahue, general manager of the North Park (Ill.) Public Water District and longtime AWWA volunteer, has been selected by the Board of Directors as the association’s next president-elect.

Donahue begins his role as president-elect in June 2013, at the conclusion of AWWA’s Annual Conference and Exposition (ACE13) in Denver. He will serve his one-year presidential term beginning in June 2014.

An AWWA member since 1987 and active member of the Illinois Section, Donahue was honored in 2009 with the association’s Fuller Award. He has served on numerous committees at both the AWWA association and Section levels, and he continues to hold water and wastewater operator licenses.

AWWA’s Board also selected four vice presidents and one director-at-large during its Winter Board Meeting in Nashville. The new vice presidents include:
• John Alston, operations superintendent with the Bozeman (Mont.) Water and Sewer Department. Alston is a member of the AWWA board of directors from the Montana Section, where he served as Section chair from 2007-09.
• Douglas Brinkman, project manager with Black & Veatch, a director from the Chesapeake Section who has chaired many section committees and served as the section chair in 2005.
• Jeffrey Nash, vice president with CDM Smith, who has served in numerous capacities within the Florida Section, including section chair, general policy chair and currently as an AWWA director.
• Michael Simpson, CEO of M.E. Simpson Co. Inc., an AWWA member for more than 30 years who has held many leadership positions within the Illinois Section.

The new director-at-large is Martha Segal, assistant director with Metro Water Services in Nashville. Segal is active in the Kentucky/Tennessee Section, where she has served as section chair, initiated a Section Customer Service Committee, chaired the Diversity Committee, and served in many other capacities.