Brett Bovee

Regional Director

WestWater Research

Brett Bovee is the regional director for WestWater Research, working primarily in Colorado and other Rocky Mountain states. WestWater specializes in valuing water assets, assisting in water transactions, and consulting on economic aspects of water management. Brett worked for about a decade as a water resources engineer and transitioned to an economic focus in the water sector about 5 years ago. Brett has consulted for a variety of private clients, municipal organizations, government agencies, and Native American Tribes.

Sean Chambers

Director of Water & Sewer

City of Greeley

Sean Chambers is director of water & sewer for the city of Greeley and leads a dynamic team of water and wastewater planning, engineering and operations professionals. Chambers joined the city in 2018 and brings a vision for increased collaboration, regional resiliency through planning and demand management. Greeley has one of the most robust and resilient surface water-collection systems in the West, with resources from four major river basins and balance between trans-mountain and native Poudre and Big Thompson water resources. 

Tom Gonzales

Public Health Director

Larimer County Department of Health and Environment

Tom Gonzales holds a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Health from Colorado State University and a Master in Public Health from the University of Northern Colorado, and is a Registered Environmental Health Specialist. Gonzales’ national and local involvement includes a term as regional vice president for the National Environmental Health Association where he pioneered the sustainability committee, charged with proposing the role of sustainability in environmental health. In 2018, Gonzales was appointed by the Governor to serve on the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission.

Bob Gowing

Director of Public Works

Town of Wellington

Bob Gowing serves as the Director of Public Works for the Town of Wellington, where he oversees the water and wastewater utilities, streets, stormwater management, parks, facilities, engineering development review, the capital improvement program, and town engineering. His broad civil engineering career consists of 22 years in the consulting and construction industries and 12 years in municipal government working on many aspects of organizational management and civil engineering.

Megan Gutwein

Associate

Berg Hill Greenleaf Ruscitti LLP

Megan Gutwein’s practice focuses on water law, water quality, real estate, civil litigation and business transactions. Megan assists clients in water court litigation and administrative proceedings, including adjudication of water rights, changes of water rights, and augmentation plans. Megan has worked on complex projects to conserve water for agricultural use and leasing agricultural water for municipal use to help preserve Colorado’s rural communities. In addition, she advises clients on water rights due diligence issues related to real estate transactions. 

Jared Heath

Watershed Specialist

City of Fort Collins Utilities

Jared Heath serves as the Watershed Specialist for the City of Fort Collins Utilities’ Watershed Program where he is responsible for watershed monitoring and assessment activities that support the protection and management of the City’s drinking water sources.

Stephanie Kampf

Professor, Watershed Science

Colorado State University, Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability

Dr. Kampf’s research group focuses on physical hydrology across spatial scales from plots to basins. Projects examine how runoff generation is affected by climate, landscape characteristics, and landscape disturbance. Current research projects explore these topics in mountain and arid environments using field monitoring, remote sensing, and both conceptual and physically based modeling.

Jen Kovecses

Executive Director

Coalition for the Poudre River Watershed

While living in California, Jen had the opportunity to work for local non-profits, offering science and policy analysis to help protect water quality and habitat in California’s beautiful coastal watersheds. After moving to Colorado in 2011, she began volunteering with Wildlands Restoration Volunteers as a way to get to know some of the amazing places in Colorado. This led to an opportunity to work with Wildlands Restoration Volunteers, managing its post-fire restoration program.

Chris Matkins

District Manager, Fort Collins

Loveland Water District & South Fort Collins Sanitation District

Chris Matkins is the District Manager for two Enterprises: The Fort Collins – Loveland Water District and the South Fort Collins Sanitation District. He has B.S. and M.S. Degrees in Civil Engineering and enjoys the challenges such as increasing regulatory requirements and increasing water scarcity that the Northern Colorado region brings. Chris has worked tirelessly to build a staff that is able to meet and exceed the mission and values of the Districts. He also serves as Chair on the Soldier Canyon Water Treatment Authority Board.

Patrick McMeekin

VP of Land Development, Partner

Hartford Homes

Patrick McMeekin is the vice president of land development and a partner at Hartford Homes. At Hartford, he oversees acquisition of real estate, project entitlements, and horizontal development. In addition to the above, he manages the corporation’s water-rights portfolio. He has worked on development projects in all the major Northern Colorado municipalities, which together total more than 5,000 units. Prior to joining Hartford in 2016, he was the chief operating officer at Water Valley Land Co. Patrick is a graduate of Colorado State University.

Rose Nash, PhD

Director of Research and Development

GT Molecular

Dr. Rose Nash is the Director of Research and Development at GT Molecular where she leads development efforts for ultrasensitive molecular diagnostics and the company’s nationwide COVID-19 wastewater monitoring program. Previously, Rose served as the R&D Manager at InDevR, a Boulder biotechnology company developing new molecular tools to serve the influenza vaccine industry. Her training includes a Bachelor’s degree in Microbiology from Indiana University, a Doctorate in Microbiology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and two post-doctoral fellowships at the University of Colorado-Boulder.

Chuck Rhoades

Research Biogeochemist

USDA Forest Service

Chuck Rhoades’ research evaluates biogeochemical linkages between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in managed and unmanaged areas. Much of his work addresses the role of upland and riparian soils and vegetation in regulating nitrogen and carbon retention and export from forest watersheds and how natural and anthropogenic disturbance alters these processes.

Jeff Stahla

Public Information Officer

Northern Water

Jeff Stahla is the Public Information Officer for Northern Water, which provides water to Fort Collins, Greeley, Loveland, Longmont, Boulder, Louisville, Lafayette, Broomfield, many smaller communities, rural and domestic water districts and local industries. Before joining Northern Water, Stahla had been a journalist in the region for more than 20 years, most recently serving as the editor of the Loveland Reporter-Herald. He lives in Loveland.

Reagan Waskom

Director, Colorado Water Center

Colorado State University

Reagan Waskom serves as director of the Colorado Water Center at Colorado State University. Waskom is a member of the Soil & Crop Sciences Department at CSU, where he has worked on various water related research and education programs for the past 34 years, conducting statewide educational and applied research programs on water quality, water quantity, water policy and natural-resource issues related to water use.

Michael Welsh

Professor of History

University of Northern Colorado

Michael Welsh is a professor of history at the University of Northern Colorado, where he has taught courses on the environment and cultures of Colorado and the American West for the past three decades. He received his Ph.D. in history from the University of New Mexico. He has written and published academic and professional studies for the US Army Corps of Engineers, the National Park Service, and the City of Greeley.

Brad Wind

General Manager

Northern Water

Bradley D. Wind is general manager of Northern Water, a Conservancy District situated in northeastern Colorado that encompasses 640,000 irrigable acres and is home to nearly 980,000 Coloradans. Brad, working in concert with Northern Water’s Board of Directors and its 140-member staff, partner with the United States Bureau of Reclamation to operate the Colorado-Big Thompson Project, the Windy Gap Project and oversees four other water-activity enterprises. During Brad’s 25-year tenure at Northern Water, he has provided leadership roles throughout the organization and engaged on water right issues on both the South Platte River and the Colorado River.