Gregory “Greg” Hebert, Franklin Electric’s Industrial & Irrigation sales development manager, is responsible for the development of sales and distribution coverage for products including lineshaft and submersible turbines products. Prior to joining Franklin Electric, Hebert worked for 17 years with a leading groundwater contractor serving as both an account manager/product manager and business development manager. In addition, he has nine years of experience working for pump manufacturers in a technical sales capacity. Hebert holds has a B.S. degree in geology from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

Rachel Proper, Industry Account Manager, Caterpillar Industries

 

Franklin Electric’s Manager-Regional Technical Service Jim Hartmann joined Franklin Electric more than 30 years ago as one of the original members of the organization’s first-of-its-kind field service team; today, he continues to set the standard for what it means to deliver exceptional educational and technical support as a regional manager, overseeing the work of field service engineers across the eastern United States. In addition, he supports advocacy efforts throughout the industry by leading as an active member of several groundwater associations. Hartmann is also the most recent recipient of NGWA’s Manufacturers Section Special Recognition Award.

Rachel Proper is an industry account manager with Caterpillar Safety Services. With more than 15 years at Caterpillar, she has experience in communication, marketing, and account management. She currently works directly with customers as a trusted adviser to help identify solutions that solve their organizational pain points. As someone who has a passion to help improve lives and bring out the best in people, Proper has worked within the Caterpillar Safety Services department for more than a decade. She is energized by building relationships, seeing frontline employees empowered to have ownership of safety, and watching leaders develop in a way that supports safety throughout the entire organization.

David L. Kill, PE, retired from Xylem Goulds Water Technology, continues to work as a training consultant doing workshops and webinars on wells and pumps. He has worked at the Minnesota Department of Transportation, Johnson Screens, and Fluid Systems Division UOP. He founded Recovery Equipment Supply in 1988 and joined Goulds Pumps ITT Industries in 1996. Throughout his career, Kill has been a lecturer at programs on groundwater, water well design, and pump selection and application. He is a member of the Minnesota Water Well Association, the Minnesota Ground Water Association, and NGWA. Kill holds a B.S. in agricultural engineering from the University of Minnesota.

Ben Chenoweth, CP, CPG, is a senior project consultant in S&ME’s Columbus, Ohio, environmental group, with more than 20 years’ experience including work in both water supply and environmental compliance fields. He has managed and completed numerous projects for private industrial and municipal clients including on-site Phase I and Phase II investigations, soil and groundwater remediation, vapor intrusion studies and mitigation, UST investigation and removals, aquifer testing, and brownfields redevelopment, and he is comfortable with a host of drilling techniques and sampling of multiple types of environmental media. Chenoweth has performed extensive field work for the collection of hydrogeologic and environmental data and conducted computer modeling of surface water and groundwater flow and contaminant fate and transport.

Laila Sturgis is Aquifer Mapping Program manager for the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, a division of New Mexico Tech. The Aquifer Mapping Program works collaboratively with homeowners, private industry, municipalities, and government agencies to monitor the groundwater across New Mexico. One groundbreaking project is the development of three-dimensional aquifer maps in ArcGIS, and the release of these map packages to planners and consultants to increase knowledge in the region. Sturgis assists in the coordination of this research team, and in the securing and managing of grants to fund these activities. Previously, she worked in water resource management and consulting in a variety of roles ranging from field technician to project manager, and also served as the project manager on multiple projects to upgrade the Alamo Navajo Chapter drinking water and wastewater systems as well as promoting planning efforts within that community.

Jason Polk, Ph.D., is a professor of Environmental Geosciences in Western Kentucky University’s Department of Earth, Environmental, and Atmospheric Sciences. His research includes karst environments, climate change, water resources and sustainability, isotope hydrology and geochemistry, and environmental geoscience issues. He has conducted research in various places all over the world, including the Caribbean, Southeast Asia, South America, and Iceland.

Polk is the 2021 recipient of the Geological Society of America Karst Division’s Distinguished Service Award, presented to an individual in recognition of distinguished personal service to the karst profession and to the GSA Karst Division. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of South Florida.

Mark Palumbo, president of HRS Water Consultants Inc. in Lakewood, Colorado, has more than 40 years of experience as a consulting hydrogeologist. His areas of expertise include groundwater hydrology, hydrogeology, aquifer storage and recovery, well hydraulics, well installations, aquifer testing, development of augmentation plans, water resource development and planning, and groundwater computer modeling.

An expert in technical aspects of Colorado water law and regulations, Palumbo has been involved in numerous water court applications and objections, plans for augmentation, and water resource valuations around the state. Specializing in Denver Basin hydrogeology, he has designed and supervised the installation of dozens of municipal water wells throughout the basin, and has completed numerous aquifer tests in Denver Basin aquifers. In addition, he’s also completed municipal augmentation plans, surface water and groundwater water rights projects including lawn irrigation return flows, water accounting, and other hydrogeologic projects.

Palumbo holds an M.S. in hydrology from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and a B.A. in sociology from St. Bonaventure University.

R. Jeffrey Davis, PE, CGWP, Integral Consulting Inc., has 25-plus years of experience with hydrogeology and civil and environmental engineering. A Utah native, he has worked on numerous groundwater-related projects in the state, as well as across the country and globally. Davis has developed and applied numerous groundwater models for municipalities, states, and industrial clients, and serves on the board of directors NGWA’s Scientists and Engineers Section, as well as on the board of the Utah Ground Water Association.

Stacy Timmons is an associate director for Hydrogeology Programs, New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, New Mexico Tech, in Socorro. As a hydrogeologist working with, and managing, the Aquifer Mapping Program for the last 16 years, Timmons has worked around the state on hydrologic and geologic research topics. Her work has ranged from collecting water quality and quantity data, mapping aquifers, and helping to build an understanding of the state’s complex hydrogeology. In 2019, Timmons also began leading the implementation of the Water Data Act, a statute that works to improve management, sharing, and integration of the state’s water data from multiple agencies and organizations.

Brian Waldron, Ph.D., is an associate professor of civil engineering in the University of Memphis Herff College of Engineering, as well as the director of the Center for Applied Earth Science and Engineering (CAESER). He had been the associate director for the Ground Water Institute (GWI) from 2007 to early 2011 and has been a faculty member of the university since 1999. The primary focus of Waldron’s research pertains to groundwater migration and contaminant transport through field investigations and numerical modeling. All of his research is multidisciplinary crossing many departments and academic institutions. Numerous students are involved in his research, allowing them to exercise what they have learned in the classroom in an applied field environment. Waldron holds three degrees in civil engineering — a B.S. and an M.S. from the University of Memphis, and a Ph.D. from Colorado State University.

Melissa Dunkle, CPA, is a principal at Rea & Associates in Dublin, Ohio, responsible for the oversight of tax engagements, review of the staff’s work, staff development, and developing new business for the firm. Her areas of expertise include partnership tax, S-corporation tax, individual income tax, nonprofit taxation and governance, and tax planning. Dunkle has more than eight years of experience in the accounting industry. Prior to joining Rea, she worked for Brady Ware, GBQ, and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Ohio. Dunkle earned her bachelor’s degree from Ohio State University with a major in accounting and a minor in finance.

Jonathan Kim, Ph.D., is the state geologist for the Vermont Geological Survey. He has made presentations and conducted field trips in conjunction with previously held NGWA Groundwater and Fractured Rock Conferences. Kim earned his bachelor’s degree from Colgate University, his master’s degree from the University of South Florida, and his Ph.D. from the University at Buffalo, all in geology/Earth science.

Robert E. Mace, Ph.D., PG, is the executive director and chief water policy officer of The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment and a professor of practice in the Department of Geography at Texas State University. He has more than 30 years of experience in hydrology, hydrogeology, stakeholder processes, and water policy. Mace has a B.S. in geophysics and an M.S. in hydrology from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and a Ph.D. in hydrogeology from the University of Texas at Austin.

Larry D. McKay, Ph.D., is the associate dean of research and facilities in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He is also the Jones Professor of Hydrogeology in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. McKay works with the heads, directors, and faculty in the college to help provide them with the infrastructure, funding, and support needed to reach their goals in research and scholarly achievements. This often involves working closely with facilities services, the office of research, and the space committee. He is also a member of the dean’s cabinet, where he helps with many of the joys, challenges, and opportunities that are part of the life of the largest and most vital college on campus. McKay received his Ph.D. in earth sciences in from the University of Waterloo, Ontario, and was a postdoctoral researcher at the Geological Survey of Denmark.

Geno Mammini, RG, is a senior hydrogeologist with Clear Creek Associates LLC. He has 21 years of experience in hydrogeologic and environmental consulting — 15 with Clear Creek, where he is responsible for managing hydrogeologic projects including groundwater investigations and hydrologic studies for groundwater supplies. Mammini has managed the design and construction of numerous public supply wells, ASR wells, vadose zone injection wells, and groundwater recharge basins throughout the Southwest. He has also authored many technical presentations on water supply well design, well evaluation and rehabilitation, groundwater recharge, and water resources planning. Mammini holds a B.S. in geology from California State University Sonoma.

Kenneth R. Bradbury, Ph.D., is Wisconsin’s state geologist and the director of the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey, part of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Division of Extension. He’s worked on groundwater issues in Wisconsin since 1982, with a focus on applied problems. Bradbury’s research has included investigations of virus transport in groundwater, groundwater flow in fractured rocks, aquitard hydrogeology, groundwater recharge processes, wellhead protection, regional groundwater simulation, and the hydrogeology of glacial deposits. He received his B.A. in geology from Ohio Wesleyan University, his A.M. in geology from Indiana University, and his Ph.D. in hydrogeology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

John K. Seaberg, PG, CGWP, is a hydrogeologist and groundwater specialist for the Groundwater Technical Analysis Workgroup of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR). He has more than 35 years of experience working in both environmental consulting and state government. While working for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, he was the technical lead for the development and application of the first regional Twin Cities Metropolitan Area Groundwater Flow Model (Metro Model 1). Seaberg currently provides technical and regulatory oversight for DNR’s permitting program for high-capacity groundwater appropriations. Additionally, he serves as DNR’s technical lead for the State of Minnesota/3M legal settlement, working to provide sustainable and safe drinking water supplies for communities and individuals impacted by PFAS contamination. Seaberg received his B.S. in geology and geophysics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and his M.S. specializing in hydrogeology with a minor in civil engineering from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

Karl Taboga, PG, has more than 17 years of experience in surface water and groundwater hydrology, environmental studies, and wetland and wildlife assessments. Prior to joining the Wyoming State Geological survey, he worked for environmental consulting firms in Wyoming, Colorado, and New Jersey, specializing in environmental permitting, produced water and wastewater management, and surface water and groundwater modeling. On behalf of his industry clients, Taboga worked along with the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality to formulate state water policies pertaining to water coproduced with oil and gas development. He oversaw the work of hydrogeologists, field technicians and consultants, and prepared special reports related to surface and groundwater resources.