Twenty-one Young Professionals to Meet Jan. 29

Members of the highly revered William R. Gianelli Water Leaders program put on by the Water Education Foundation were selected to participate in the 2015 class.

Class members are:

• Ian Achimore, Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority
• Samantha Adams, Wildermuth Environmental, Inc.
• Anna Brathwaite, Modesto Irrigation District
• Jennifer Capitolo, Nossaman LLP
• Danielle Dolan, Local Government Commission
• Anna Fedman,San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
• Katrina Harrison, Bureau of Reclamation
• Nashelley Sara Kaplan-Dailey, WaterNow
• Jeanie Mascia, State Water Resources Control Board
• Prosenjit Mitra, MBK Engineers
• Ryan Reeves, California Department of Water Resources
• Sara Reid, CoBank
• Sarah Rhodes, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
• Lucas RossMerz, Sacramento River Preservation Trust
• Calla Schmidt, University of San Francisco
• Heather Shannon, MWH
• Herb Smart, Turlock Irrigation District
• Alexis Stevens, Somach Simmons & Dunn
• Wendy Wang, Best Best & Krieger LLP
• Nancy Warfel, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
• Steven Wiesner, Kleinfelder

The program began in 1997 and several of the “Water Leaders” have gone on to achieve top positions in their companies, the state Legislature, government agencies and nonprofit organizations.

Each class member this year will be assigned to shadow and interview a prominent water stakeholder – with the goal of matching students and mentors from different communities. Class members attend Foundation tours and briefings as they research and develop an oral presentation. The class will convene at the Foundation on Jan. 29.