Victor D'Amato
Victor D'Amato is a professional engineer with over 16 years of water quality engineering experience who leads a practice in sustainable resource management and design out of Tetra Tech's Research Triangle Park, NC office. Although he has worked on wastewater systems ranging in size from 360 gpd to 420 MGD, Mr. D'Amato is considered an expert on distributed and decentralized water resource management. His work experience includes design, planning, research and program/project management and he specializes in the development, design, and implementation of integrated resource management systems which include decentralized wastewater reclamation and stormwater recovery and reuse. He is the Principal Investigator of a Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) funded project focused on when and how to utilize distributed and decentralized wastewater management approaches within urban and suburban settings, and is a co-investigator on another national research project whose objective is to work with international experts to develop a framework for a new, sustainable and integrated water infrastructure paradigm. As a member of the Water Environment Federation's (WEF) Small Communities and Distributed Wastewater Systems Committee, Mr. D'Amato coordinates the webcast program and serves as the Committee's liaison to the Technical Practices Committee.
Paul Gagliardo 
Mr. Gagliardo is well known throughout the United States, in Europe and Asia for his defining work on indirect potable reuse as a scheme to supplement the potable water supply in San Diego, California . He has pioneered the efficacy testing and use of new technologies in businesses that vary from energy conservation, hazardous waste remediation, solid waste resource recovery, water treatment, wastewater treatment, contaminant monitoring and strategic planning. He has authored over fifty technical papers on subjects ranging from low and high pressure membrane systems, monitoring systems, UV disinfection systems, strategic planning and watershed management. He has given presentations on five continents and in ten different countries and has been the invited keynote speaker on multiple occasions. During his twenty plus years at the City of San Diego, Paul created and managed the Aqua2000 Research Center. This program focused on the testing of new technologies for use in the water and wastewater business. Since leaving the City of San Diego he has continued to assist innovators in the development of their new products and help them become commercialized. Currently, Mr. Gagliardo is the Manager of the Innovation Development for American Water. In this position he is responsible for identifying new technologies that can be incorporated into American Water’s various business enterprises. Mr. Gagliardo is a registered engineer in the state of California and has a Master’s Degree in Public Health. He was appointed to the State of California 2003 Water Plan Update Advisory Committee, and was instrumental in fundraising for the successful proposition 50 Water Bond campaign.
Paul O’Callaghan
Paul is CEO of O2 Environmental Inc., a Director with Ionic Water Technologies, and an industry expert reviewer for both Sustainable Development Canada and the Innovative Clean Energy Fund. Paul recently completed a cutting edge analysis of BlueTech investment opportunities in the water sector for Global Water Intelligence, “Water Technology Markets – key opportunities and emerging trends’. The report, published in July 2009, provided a critical analysis of the game-changing technologies coming down the pike and identified the best growth opportunities in the water sector. Paul has worked with many start-ups to take technologies from proof of concept through to commercialization. His comprehensive technical and market expertise gained in both Europe and North America provides a unique international perspective on the emerging technology opportunities. In addition, Paul has carried out work to identify investment opportunities for funds such as the Renaissance Fund, Frog Capital & the Four Winds Aqua Fund. O2 Environmental Inc. is widely regarded as a preeminent resource for expertise in emerging water and environmental technologies.
Gayle Pergamit
Gayle is cofounder of Agua Via. LLC, which is developing purification and desalination products designed to operate at the lowest energy and highest specificity possible. The technology is based on the one-atomic layer thick Smart Membrane and Quantum Pore technology developed by Covalent, a research company Pergamit cofounded. The company is developing two initial large volume products (100,000 US gallons (370 m³) per day output): a water purification unit small enough to fit in a standard 8” pipe delivery system and a desalination unit of similar dimensions.
Before her work in the water purification industry, Pergamit co-founded and developed the first e-commerce firm: AMIX, the American Information Exchange. AMIX pioneered the technical, economic and business basics which characterize E-bay, Priceline and Amazon. Among her publications is Unbounding the Future, coauthored with Dr. K. Eric Drexler, founder of the field of nanotechnology, which explores the product possibilities, technical development pathways, economic impacts, and legal and societal implications of nanotechnology.
Rengarajan Ramesh
Ramesh started a Strategy and Innovation consulting firm named “Angstroms” in July 2009. As its Chief Architect he is currently advising startups and Private Equity firms on investment strategies. Ramesh specializes in performing technical and business due diligence and targets companies in the clean energy, water, and waste management fields. Ramesh also plays an active role in identifying unique early stage start-ups and helps them identify partners to accelerate their growth. Prior to Angstroms, Ramesh was the Chief Technology Officer for GE Water and Process Technologies and played a key role in developing the acquisition, technology integration and globalization strategy for GE Water. Ramesh started his career at A. Schulman Inc, a 2B specialty chemicals and masterbatch manufacturer based in Akron, Ohio. In 2000, Ramesh became the Chief Technology Officer and led the corporate strategy shift from the automotive business to the consumer packaging business. Ramesh graduated with a M.S. and PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Akron. He served as a member of the International Advisory Board to the Ministry of Environment and Water for the Government of Singapore from 2006-2009. He is also currently an Executive Board member at the National Center for Food Protection and Defense. He has over 4 issued and over 4 filed patents along with several publications.
Andrew Salveson
Currently working with Carollo Engineers, Andrew Salveson has 15 years of environmental consulting experience serving public and private-sector clients in the research and design of water and wastewater treatment systems. He is a licensed engineer in California and is a member of the International UV Association and Water Environment Foundation. Areas of experience include advanced wastewater treatment and disinfection process research, drinking water process research, and advanced water and wastewater treatment planning and design. Salveson’s recent WateReuse Foundation Projects have provided the industry with valuable information related to removal and biological impact of various TOrCs in wastewater. Salveson was the 2007 WateReuse Person of the Year.
Laura Shenkar
Laura Shenkar, Founder and Principal of The Artemis Project, is one of the foremost global experts on corporate water strategy and the application of advanced water technologies in commercial and industrial markets. Ms. Shenkar works with leading global corporations - including Wal-Mart, IBM and Novozymes - on the development and execution of their water management strategies. She also assists advanced water technology companies in bringing new innovations to market, such as smart irrigation, advanced cooling towers, high-efficiency filtration, on-site recycling and water capture systems. Ms. Shenkar advises the venture capital community on emerging investment opportunities through her work with Going Green clean-tech investment conference, the VC Taskforce and Astia. She is also actively involved with leading policy, advocacy and certification organizations, including the Alliance for Water Efficiency, the Water Reuse Association, the Water Environment Federation, the American Water Works Association, the National Sanitation Foundation, the Denmark Innovation Centre, the Israeli Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Water Netherlands Partnership.Ms. Shenkar is a regular speaker at conferences and industry events, and she has authored several landmark reports and policy papers, including the E2 policy paper, “Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions Through Improved Water Policy,” that has driven California state policy on energy and water conservation. A graduate of Yale University, Ms. Shenkar holds an MBA from Harvard Business School. She has lived throughout the world and currently resides in San Francisco, California.
Jerry Yudelson 
Known as one of the country’s leading experts on green buildings and green building marketing, Jerry Yudelson leads the consulting team at Yudelson Associates. He has served on the national board of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and co-founded the USGBC’s first regional chapter, Cascadia, in the Pacific Northwest. A registered professional engineer, he is an expert in the LEED green building rating system, and provides his clients with expert guidance on creating, developing, designing and marketing green building projects. Previously, Jerry assisted project teams with sustainable design and marketing services for commercial and institutional building projects as the Sustainability Director for a large regional engineering firm. He also co-founded and directed the Green Building Services consulting unit of Portland General Electric, now an independent LEED consulting firm. A trained water resources engineer, Jerry is the author of the forthcoming “Dry Run: Preventing the Next Urban Water Crisis,” along with 11 other books (since 2006) on green building, green development and green marketing.
©2009 The Artemis Project