Anne Le Guennec joined Veolia in 1998. An engineer and graduate of the University of Technology of Compiègne in France, she has built a career of more than 25 years across Veolia’s three core businesses — water, waste and energy — developing deep expertise in the Group’s integrated approach to environmental solutions.
Anne has held numerous operational and executive roles across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, leading major business development, technical, and transformation initiatives, including as CEO of Enova by Veolia, a joint venture that provides energy management services across the Middle East, and CEO of Veolia’s waste recycling and recovery activities in France.
In 2023, she was appointed CEO of Veolia’s worldwide water technologies activities, a €5 billion business spanning more than 50 countries, and joined the Group’s Executive Committee. Under her leadership, the Water Tech zone is positioned as a strategic growth booster, driving innovation to strengthen environmental security and tackle the world’s most pressing water challenges.
Anne is married and has one son. She is passionate about her work and photography, and enjoys running and golf.
Paul O’Callaghan is an environmental scientist, researcher, and documentary producer whose career has focused on understanding and accelerating the adoption of sustainable water technologies. He is the founder of O₂ Environmental and the founder and CEO of BlueTech Research, the global intelligence firm that helps utilities, corporations, and investors navigate innovation trends in the water sector.
Through two decades of research, advisory work, and public communication, Paul has become a widely referenced voice on how new water technologies move from invention to real-world implementation.
Paul earned his PhD at Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands, where he developed the Water Technology Adoption (WaTA) model. This framework examines the drivers, barriers, and timelines that influence how technologies progress through each stage of development. His research continues to inform how policymakers, innovators, and industry leaders understand innovation velocity in the water sector. He is also the co-author of The Dynamics of Water Innovation, published in association with Wageningen University & Research, which expands on these insights with global case studies and data-driven analysis.
Alongside his scientific work, Paul is the executive producer and co-founder of the Brave Blue World Foundation. He produced two feature documentaries—Brave Blue World (2020) and Our Blue World (2024)—which highlight examples of water innovation, circular solutions, and community-driven change around the world. The films have been screened internationally at festivals, educational institutions, and policy events, and have contributed to a broader public conversation around freshwater sustainability.
In recognition of his contributions to research, innovation, and public communication on global water challenges, Paul received the Stroud Award for Freshwater Excellence in 2025. His work continues to connect science, industry, and storytelling, promoting new ways of understanding and addressing water issues worldwide.
“We envision a day when everybody has access to clean water and sanitation, and we envision that in our lifetime.”
— Matt Damon, Actor and Co-Founder of Water.org
Matt Damon is Co-Founder of Water.org, a global nonprofit organisation focused on expanding access to safe water and sanitation through innovative, market-based solutions.
Since co-founding Water.org in 2009 with Gary White, Damon has helped advance a model that moves beyond traditional aid, enabling millions of people to gain access to affordable financing for water and sanitation solutions. Through initiatives such as WaterCredit, the organisation has reached tens of millions of people worldwide, empowering households and communities to secure lasting access to these essential services.
Damon’s involvement is rooted in a long-standing commitment to addressing the global water crisis and its connection to poverty. Through Water.org’s work, he continues to advocate for scalable, sustainable approaches that improve lives by unlocking access to safe water and sanitation.
Photo credit: Brian Bloom
Seth Godin is an entrepreneur, best-selling author, and speaker. In addition to writing one of the most popular blogs in the world, he has written 21 best-selling books, including The Dip, Linchpin, Purple Cow, Tribes, and What To Do When It’s Your Turn (And It’s Always Your Turn). They have been translated into 40 languages.
His latest book is THIS IS STRATEGY. It was featured in the Harvard Business Review and became a nationwide bestseller.
His previous books include The Song of Significance and The Practice, which creatives everywhere made into a bestseller. He is also the founding editor of THE CARBON ALMANAC, a bestseller now available in 7 languages.
Though renowned for his writing and speaking, Seth also founded two companies, Squidoo and Yoyodyne (acquired by Yahoo!). He’s credited as the inventor of email marketing (the good kind). Seth has given five TED talks, including two that rank as the most popular of all time.
By teaching about everything from effective marketing and leadership, to the spread of ideas and our responsibilities as leaders, Seth has been able to motivate and inspire countless people around the world.
In May 2018, he was inducted into the Marketing Hall of Fame. He’s also a canoeing instructor and an improving juggler.
In 2005 Li An Phoa canoed the full length of a river in Canada, the Rupert. All along the way, she could drink water straight from the river. Three years later, Li An came back and she could not drink from the Rupert anymore. The river was polluted as a result of dams and mining. Fish died, people got ill. The delicate balance in the ecosystem was destroyed.
Li An realised that drinkable rivers are an indicator of healthy living. Indeed, when we can drink from our rivers, it means that a whole ecosystem is healthy and in balance. Rivers can only be drinkable when all actions and relations in an entire watershed contribute.
We propose to use drinkable rivers, as a guiding principle for our societies, as a replacement of economic growth. Drinkable rivers as an ancient and new compass, guided by the following, simple question: “Does this behaviour, this measure, or this innovation contribute to drinkable rivers?”
Rivers are vital for all life on earth, rivers are our lifelines. We cannot live without water, we are water. All living beings are part of a watershed, so we will all benefit from drinkable rivers.
Wilbert Menkveld is Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Nijhuis Saur Industries, the industrial division of SAUR, where he leads the global innovation strategy, development of new technologies and solutions, product management, market introduction, and technology selection for water and resource recovery projects.
He holds a BSc in Chemical Engineering from Saxion University of Applied Sciences and an MSc in Environmental Technology and Urban Environmental Management from Wageningen University & Research, the Netherlands.
With nearly 30 years of experience in the municipal and industrial water sector, Wilbert has worked across technology development, system design, scale‑up, and market deployment of advanced solutions for process water, wastewater, and biomass treatment. He has held senior roles in R&D, technology leadership, business development, Project management and consulting.
Wilbert is the author of over 50 publications and (co‑) inventor of more than 10 patents, reflecting his strong focus on applied innovation and real‑world impact.
Project Director, Meridel Rubenstein conceptualized and initiated The Eden in Iraq Wastewater Project in the Mesopotamian Marshes of S. Iraq. With Dr. Mark Nelson, our international team is using environmental engineering and design, and wastewater to make a restorative garden for health, cultural heritage, and environmental education. Eden in Iraq received its first substantial research funding in 2013 from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore where she was a Professor of Art and Ecology. Blue tech LLC is our cherished Impact Partner.
Meridel is an internationally recognized artist/photographer. Her artwork has been featured in exhibitions and publications worldwide, and has received numerous grants including a Guggenheim Fellowship. Her artwork explores intersections of nature and culture in relation to ecological and social imbalances. In 2024, Rubenstein received the Anonymous was a Woman Environmental Grant to make ceramic relief tile panels for the Eden in Iraq Wastewater Garden main entrance.
“Water innovations take longer than IT innovation, but are more important for our future.”
— Prof.dr.ir. Cees Buisman, Wetsus
Prof.dr.ir. Cees J.N. Buisman holds a MSc and PhD (1989) degree from Wageningen University & Research, The Netherlands. Until 2003 he was director Technology and Business Development at Paques B.V.
Since 2003, he is Professor at the department of Environmental Technology at Wageningen University, The Netherlands, in the field of biological reuse and recovery technology. His current focal point is on bio-recovery of organics and minerals from waste streams for reuse in industry and agriculture.
He combines his position of Professor with his position as Executive Board Member at Wetsus, European centre of excellence for sustainable water technology (Leeuwarden, The Netherlands). The objective of Wetsus is to create a business driven international multidisciplinary research program for all aspects of water technology.
Prof. Buisman is member of the Netherlands Academy of Engineering and advisory board member of many organisations like Aquatech/RAI, Dutch Topsector Watertechnology (TKI), KWR – The Netherlands
Hope Yu is Chairwoman of Turenscape USA, carrying forward the legacy of her father, Kongjian Yu, a pioneer of ecological civilization in China and a global leader in nature-based solutions and sponge city theory. She is leading Turenscape into a new era defined by the integration of artificial intelligence and ecological design, advancing climate-adaptive cities and resilient landscapes worldwide.
With a background in software engineering, Hope Yu previously served as a Senior Software Engineer where she led large-scale product integrations and developed robust systems for performance and reliability. Bridging technology and landscape architecture, she is developing AI-driven tools for rapid design iteration, ecological simulation, participatory planning, and climate-responsive decision-making.
Her vision is to democratize the capabilities of “Sponge City” and “Sponge Planet,” enabling citizens, designers, and governments to co-create water-resilient, nature-based urban environments. Under her leadership, Turenscape continues its global mission to restore ecosystems, rebuild healthy water cycles, and address climate change through nature-based solutions, guiding cities toward a more resilient and regenerative future.
“The coming century needs to be one where we intelligently restore the health of our global biosphere, acting with urgency as if our lives depend on it, which they do.”
— Mark Nelson, Ph, D.
Chairman Emeritus, Director, Institute of Ecotechnics (UK/US)
Director, Wastewater Gardens International
Mark served from 1982-2024 as the head of the Institute of Ecotechnics (UK/US) whose goal is to develop a new scientific discipline harmonizing the worlds of life and technology.
The Institute consults to challenging demonstration field projects in varied biomes. Mark has worked in desertified New Mexico, the tropical savanna Kimberley region of West Australia and the Puerto Rican rainforest.
IE helped create the world’s first mini-biosphere, Biosphere 2, a new kind of laboratory for studying its fundamental processes. Mark was a member of the “biospherian” crew for its 2-year initial experiment. He managed and researched its constructed wetlands which treated and recycled all the nutrients in the facility’s wastewater.
After working with H.T. Odum, the father of ecological engineering, while getting his PhD at the University of Florida, Mark launched Wastewater Gardens International, which has implemented biodiverse wetlands in 14 countries, changing our paradigm about wastewater. Its newest project is the Eden in Iraq Wastewater Garden project for 8,000 Marsh Arabs in southern Iraq.
Mark’s books include: “Pushing Our Limits: Insights from Biosphere 2” (2018), “The Wastewater Gardener: Preserving the Planet One Flush at a Time” (2014) and “Life Under Glass: Crucial Lessons in Planetary Stewardship” (2020).
Julia Watson is an Australian-born designer, educator, author, TED speaker, and transformative thought leaderof Greco-Egyptian-Welsh heritage, shaping climate-resilient design through Indigenous knowledge systems.
From an early age, she engaged with First Nations ecological perspectives, developing a deep understanding of how human and natural systems co-evolve—a worldview that guides her work. She is the author of thebest-selling, award-winningbooksLo—TEK: Design by Radical Indigenism(TASCHEN, 2019) andLo—TEK Water: A Field Guide for TEKnology(TASCHEN, 2025), and pioneered the global Lo—TEK movement, reframing nature-based technologies as essential solutions to the planetary crisis.
Her work is collaborative, co-creating with Indigenous co-authors and communities, traveling the world to study these technologies firsthand, and sharing their insights globally. Watson founded the Lo—TEK Institute and the Lo—TEK Office forIntercultural Urbanism, advancingTEKnological Urbanism, anapproach to human system and settlements, rooted in Traditional Ecological Knowledge, reciprocity, and intercultural co-design.
She has taught at Harvard, Columbia, and other leading universities, and collaborated with NIKE, LEGO, Gensler, and Buro Happold, continually redefining sustainability through ancestral wisdom.
“We’re excited to join this year’s BlueTech Forum to showcase how time-tested, trusted onsite and distributed solutions are being packaged, automated, and reimagined to serve multiple industries including supporting the next generation of AI infrastructure.”
— Zach Gallagher, P.E., LEED AP, Natural Systems Utilities
Mr. Gallagher is a licensed Professional Engineer holding BS and MS degrees from Rutgers University in Bio-Resource and Civil/Environmental Engineering. He is currently President & CEO for Natural Systems Utilities (NSU) and formerly served as Vice Chair for the Board of Directors of the U.S. Green Building Council, NJ Chapter.
With over 40 years of innovation and leadership in the water industry NSU operates one of the largest bases of distributed treatment and direct water reuse systems in the United States. NSU is now a part of Saur, a pure-play water and essential services provider with over 12,000 employees and 20 million customers served worldwide in over 140 countries.
Mr. Gallagher has over 25 years of experience with onsite water treatment and reuse systems, has been published by Forbes and Rutgers University Press and serves as a Guest Lecturer on the subject at multiple universities across the Country.
David Sedlak is the Plato Malozemoff Distinguished Professor in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering and the Director of the Berkeley Water Center at UC Berkeley.
His research focuses on the fate of chemical contaminants, with the long-term goal of developing cost-effective, safe, and sustainable systems to manage water resources. He is particularly interested in the development of local sources of water, including water reuse—the practice of using municipal wastewater effluent to sustain aquatic ecosystems and augment water supplies—as well as the treatment and use of urban runoff and groundwater from contaminated industrial sites.
Dr. Sedlak is a member of the US National Academy of Engineering, chair of its Water Science & Technology Board and recipient of numerous awards including the Paul Busch Award for Innovation in Applied Water Quality Research and the Clarke Prize for Excellence in Water Research. He is also the author of “Water 4.0: The Past, Present and Future of the World’s Most Vital Resource” and “Water for All: Global Solutions for a Changing Climate”.
With over 15 years of experience, I have dedicated my career in service of the living world, advancing sustainability and social impact across sectors. As CEO & Co-founder of Myzelio, we enable organizations to deliver transformative climate, nature, and circularity action across value chains by embedding on-demand teams that execute, finance, and scale solutions more efficiently than traditional in-house models. I also serve as Chief Impact and Philanthropy at Daughters for Earth, a global fund and movement supporting women-led solutions to restore nature, and as Partnerships Weaver for the NGO mundo común, where we cultivate futures grounded in care, interdependence, and collective wellbeing.
Prior to founding Myzelio, I spent nearly eight years at AB InBev, where I led sustainability initiatives at local and regional levels before managing the global operations of the 100+ Accelerator, supporting startups in scaling sustainable innovations. I later served as Global Director for Nature, integrating nature-based strategies across the company’s global value chain. Earlier in my career, I spent almost four years at the World Wildlife Fund, contributing to climate advocacy and international negotiations.
I hold a Law degree with a specialization in Economics from Universidad de los Andes and have taught international environmental law and sustainability. I have been recognized as one of the Women of the Future Initiative’s 50 Rising Stars in ESG and am a One Young World Ambassador, Homeward Bound Fellow (Antarctic Explorer), and Aspen Institute First Mover Fellow.
“Addressing water security has never been more urgent. BlueTech brings together decision‑makers and problem‑solvers to tackle complex challenges and drive meaningful action. We’re proud to support these important conversations.”
— David Henderson, Managing Partner, XPV Water Partners
David is a Founding Partner of XPV Water Partners. He is a thought leader and sought-after advisor, speaker, and expert contributor in the areas of water innovation, policy, and investing. In addition to leading the firm, David uses his industry network and knowledge to invest in and rapidly scale water-related companies.
Prior to XPV, David was Vice President with the private merchant bank Kinghaven Capital Corporation (now VRG Capital). He was responsible for executing direct investments in a broad range of industries, M&A transactions, and corporate development value-add work for portfolio companies.
David attended Toronto Metropolitan University’s School of Business, specializing in the Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development program. He is a recipient of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 Award, the Ontario Premier’s Award of Excellence and Enactus Global Champion and Alumni of the Year Award. He is a member of the Young President’s Organization (YPO).
David is an avid golfer and gamer, and he is a diehard hockey fan.
Snehal Desai, EVP and Chief Growth and Innovation Officer at Xylem, drives enterprise-wide strategies to enhance customer experience, foster innovation, and create sustainable solutions. Leading the evolution of Xylem and Evoqua’s Innovation, Technology, Product, and Digital functions, he positions the company at the forefront of water technology. With over 35 years of leadership in water, commercial strategy, and innovation, Snehal has held key roles at Evoqua, Dow, and NatureWorks. He serves on the Water Reuse Association board and Chatham University’s Executive Committee. Snehal holds an MBA from Northwestern University and a BS in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering from Michigan.
Daniel Benitez is Vice President and General Manager of Innovation and New Ventures for Veralto’s Water Quality segment, a global leader in water technology serving municipal, industrial, and environmental markets. Previously, Daniel served as General Manager of AriaFiltra (formerly Pall Water), where he led a global water filtration business. He now focuses on early-stage innovation, minority investments, and partnerships, bringing an operator’s perspective to what makes water technologies commercially viable and scalable.
Rob Collier is Group President, Water Treatment, overseeing Veralto’s global portfolio of water treatment businesses as part of the company’s Water Quality segment. In this role, Rob is responsible for organic growth initiatives and strategic acquisitions to expand market share and strengthen the company’s water treatment capabilities worldwide.
Prior to his appointment, Rob served as President of ChemTreat, where he led the business through continued growth and operational excellence. Additionally, Rob has held leadership roles across Veralto’s operating companies, including serving as President of McCrometer, a water analytics business, further broadening his industry and operational expertise.
Since joining Danaher/Veralto in 2009, Rob has held a range of cross‑functional leadership roles of increasing responsibility across operations, financial planning and analysis, business development, strategic marketing, and general management. His broad experience across the enterprise has shaped a leadership style focused on customer outcomes, continuous improvement, and disciplined execution.
Prior to joining Danaher/Veralto, Rob served for five years in the United States Army as an Airborne Infantry Officer, an experience that continues to inform his leadership approach and commitment to teamwork and accountability.
Rob earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial and systems engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and holds an MBA from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia.
Guillaume is the Chief Operating Officer at H2O Innovation. As a respected business leader with strong technical background and acute commercial accumen, he helped to shape the company’s growth from the start-up stage to a recognized global player in advanced Water Solutions.
Guillaume holds a Physics Engineering degree from Laval University and a MBA from the University of San Diego. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in Canada and he serves as a member of the Board of Director of the Water Reuse Association.
Over the years, he lived and worked in California, Spain, India, France and the UK before relocating to Canada where he is based now. His various “glocal” experiences have shaped a deep and broad understanding of the various water challenges & opportunities around the Globe making him a frequent speaker at conferences or on expert panels and conferences.
Lily Chen brings a strategic storytelling lens to BlueTech Forum, combining deep sector knowledge with a strong background in event communications, brand positioning, and audience engagement. Lily’s journey into the water sector began in environmental infrastructure and compliance, before moving into technology, media, and innovation-focused communications.
At BlueTech Research, Lily leads the branding, communications, and audience experience surrounding BlueTech Forum and related industry events. Her work spans everything from event messaging and campaign strategy to speaker communications, content production, and digital engagement. While she has also served as MC and co-host at FOG Summits across the UK and the Netherlands, her primary role sits behind the scenes shaping the narrative, identity, and communication ecosystem that brings these events to life.
At this year’s BlueTech Forum, Lily will co-host the event alongside Carolina Garcia of MyZelio, helping guide conversations, connect themes across sessions, and create an engaging experience for delegates throughout the programme.
Jeff is an internationally recognized expert on water technologies and their markets, with over 25 years’ of commercial and technical experience gained from engagements with start-ups, investors and large corporations in the dynamic global water space. He is globally connected and uniquely positioned to advise companies on their technology portfolios and future innovation strategies. Jeff has worked with global Fortune 500 corporates including P&G, BHP, L’Oréal, Unilever, Samsung and PepsiCo. Jeff has also advised many leading utilities such as Metro Vancouver, DC Water, OCWD, Singapore PUB and Severn Trent Water, helping them create business and asset management plans.
A business strategist and water industry leader who knows how to impact the bottom line, Jeff has advised businesses with wastewater treatment technologies, has led technology acquisition and integration projects, and has structured and negotiated strategic alliances, joint ventures and licensing agreements. Jeff has managed technology scale-ups, executed technology commercialization projects, and has held senior process engineering and project management roles in both the municipal and industrial market sectors.
Jeff is widely recognized for his expertise in market analysis and ability to identify growth opportunities. He has successfully worked with numerous venture-backed water companies and has assisted a number of Venture Capital and Private Equity funds such as XPV Capital, True North Venture Partners, SKion and Emerald Ventures, helping them identify water sector investment opportunities.
Jeff also advises companies on acquisitions, running comprehensive due diligence projects to assess assets, liabilities and evaluate commercial potential. He has supported Morgan Stanley, Baird Capital, Novozymes, Hitachi, DuPont, Siemens, and 25Madison, to name a few.
Jeff is currently Vice President at BlueTech Research, the leading global water market intelligence firm and definitive source for insight, data and news on the transformation of the water sector. He leads the client relations and market expansion portfolios, and enjoys providing corporate foresight to support the needs of BlueTech members.
Jeff earned a Bachelor of Applied Science in Bio-Resource Engineering and a Master of Applied Science in Chemical and Biological Engineering from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. He has authored several published papers, has delivered numerous presentations at water and wastewater conferences, and is a co-author for the Humana Press “Handbook of Environmental Engineering” series. Jeff is an active member of WEF and volunteers time in a mentoring capacity to a variety of accelerators, funds and SMEs in the water space.
Rafael has always been passionate about infrastructure, which led him to pursue a degree in Civil Engineering. After obtaining his degree, Rafael participated in construction projects including roads and houses, incorporating eco-techniques for water and energy conservation. He later worked on water conservation projects with the water utility of Puebla, Mexico, where he identified significant challenges in the city’s water infrastructure, particularly in the wastewater treatment sector.
Rafael then pursued and successfully acquired a Ph.D. in Water Sciences at the Universidad de las Américas Puebla, his alma mater. During his Ph.D., Rafael explored a wide variety of engineering processes and developed a passion for system dynamics and wastewater resource recovery. His research, focusing on wastewater treatment plant modeling and techno-economic evaluations for process optimization, has been published in Air, Soil and Water Research (Sage Publications) and Water Research (Elsevier).
Rafael joined BlueTech Research in September 2022 as a Research Analyst, supporting technology scans, market analysis, and competitive landscape assessments in the water sector. He is excited to continue his professional development in this field.
Growing up, Saurabh Singh spent three years living in Jodhpur, one of India’s driest cities. There, seeing communities queuing at water tankers for hours to fill jerrycans, he learnt the true value of water. These early experiences instilled in him a desire to achieve universal access to safe and affordable drinking water for all.
Later, during his undergraduate internship, Saurabh worked on the Delhi Drainage Master Plan 2031 project at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. This reinforced his water ambitions, setting his career in motion.
Saurabh joined BlueTech Research in November 2020 as a Water Technology Research Analyst. Based in Canada, he specialises in providing consulting services in strategy, digital assessment, market intelligence, and due diligence for various water-focused utilities, corporations, municipalities, and private clients.
Before joining BlueTech Research, Saurabh worked as a water engineer at Jacobs Engineering Group, and prior to this as an environmental engineer at AECOM. He has lived and worked in six different countries – India, UK, Spain, Germany, Canada and Uganda, where he led a project to supply drinking water to an orphanage on the island of Zinga.
He is a Joint-MSc degree graduate “Magna cum Laude” who completed his fourth semester thesis at the University of Toronto, Canada. He received the prestigious Erasmus Mundus Excellence Scholarship from the European Commission to pursue a two-year joint MSc program, specialising in hydroinformatics and water management. In 2017, he was named winner of the IoT for Greener Cities international challenge.
For Saurabh, the best thing about working in water is seeing the impact his work has on the lives of others. He has a passion for travel, enjoys football and is a trained Formula 1 marshal.
