In celebration of Water Professionals Week, AWWEE is pleased to collaborate with members of the Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA), Bay Area Water/Wastewater Workforce Reliability (BAYWORK), California Association of Sanitation Agencies (CASA), California Water Environment Association (CWEA), and the California-Nevada Section of the American Water Works Association (CA-NV AWWA) for this special Path to Power event.
Path to Power is a popular event series hosted by AWWEE for many years to showcase the experiences of women who have achieved professional success in our fields. These events provide a unique opportunity to hear directly from women we admire about their professional journeys.
We are pleased to welcome these impressive women in water for an insightful conversation about their professional journeys.
Join us as we hear how they navigate challenges and balance their professional and personal priorities, share their best advice, and answer audience questions.
About Our Panelists
Patty Cortez joined the Upper San Gabriel Valley MWD (Upper District) in September 2013 and serves as the Executive Manager for Government and Community Affairs. She has over fifteen years of experience in the management of public relations, public affairs and crisis communications. Patty is responsible for managing the District’s legislative agenda, public relations, and conservation outreach to the San Gabriel Valley.
Patty’s innovative outreach programs has earned Upper District regional and statewide recognition. In September 2015, Upper District was awarded the California Special Districts Association’s 2015 Excellence in Outreach Award for its first-of-its-kind water conservation program, The San Gabriel Valley Water Smart City Challenge. Upper District has been consecutively honored with the prestigious U.S. EPA’s WaterSense Partner of the Year Award for its innovative public outreach activities on water conservation in 2019, 2020 and 2021. She was also honored as the 2017 Woman of Achievement Award in Environmental Protection for the 22nd Senate District.
Patty serves as a State Legislative Committee member and Region 8 Outreach Captain for the Association of California Water Agencies. She also serves as a Legislative Committee Co-Chair and Board member for the Southern California Water Coalition.
Patty was recently elected to the Covina City Council, where she currently serves as Mayor. She is the city representative to the LA County Sanitation District’s Board of Directors and the San Gabriel Valley Regional Housing Trust.
Patty earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Loyola Marymount University and a Master of Public Administration from the University of La Verne.
Rajani Nair, P.E., has over 23 years of civil engineering experience leading a wide range of diverse multi-million-dollar infrastructure projects from transportation to sanitary, storm, and electrical. Throughout her career, Rajani has led teams to help delivery major multi-sector infrastructure projects in large diverse cities, including, Atlantic City, New Jersey, Boston (Route 3 North), Massachusetts, New York City, New York and San Jose, California.
Rajani is currently the Deputy Director Watershed Protection Division within Environmental Services Department in the City of San Jose. She oversees this $21M program that focuses on improving water quality within our stormwater network and protecting our waterways within San Jose. She is leading the vision for the adoption of technology and innovation to support environmental sustainability. Prior to her current role, Rajani led the first ever Smart City program that focused on citywide adoption of digital transformation to deliver more efficient, effective and equitable services for the San Jose community. She served as the Executive Sponsor for many innovative projects and collaborated with a wide range of tech companies, from startups to large companies to pilot projects within San Jose that have a focus on improving City services, increasing community engagement and empowering our most vulnerable community.
Rajani earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Texas A&M University and Master of Science degree from Columbia University. She has been a licensed Professional Engineer since 2002.
Jennifer Rojas is the Director of Water and Sewer Field Operations for the Long Beach Water Department (LBWD). LBWD serves a population of nearly 500,000 residents in an area of approximately 52 square miles. It includes a water distribution system of 907 miles with over 90,000 service connections, a 62.5 MGD groundwater treatment plant, and 712 miles of sewer mainlines. Jennifer oversees the Field Operations Bureau which is comprised of four Divisions: Water Construction, Water Services, Sewer Operations, and Support Services. She has been in the industry for 11 years and holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Los Angeles. She holds industry certifications in Collection System Maintenance from the California Water Environment Association (CWEA), as well as in Water Distribution and Water Treatment from the State Water Resources Control Board. She has served on CWEA’s Collection Systems Committee and is a current member of CWEA, the Water Environment Federation (WEF), and the American Water Works Association (AWWA).
Moderator
Lana Haddad is the Legislative Services Section Manager for Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. Lana joined AWWEE in 2009, was elected to the Board of Directors in 2016, and has served as the Board President since 2021.
Registration
This webinar is free and everyone is welcome. It is part of a series of events celebrating water professionals during California Water Professionals Appreciation Week, October 1-9.
Registration for this event is being managed by CWEA. Confirmation and reminder emails will look different than for other AWWEE events.