Mary-Anna Holden was appointed by Governor Christie and confirmed as a member of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities in January 2012.  She was reappointed by Governor Murphy in April 2018.

Prior to her nomination, she served as Mayor of the Borough of Madison for four years and a Councilwoman for ten years.  During her service in Madison, she chaired or co-chaired every committee and department in the borough, including electric and water utilities, public works, engineering, transportation and public safety.  She also was chair of the Madison-Chatham Joint Meeting wastewater facility, and served for 11 years as a trustee of the N.J. Historic Trust.

She is immediate past chair of the National Association of Regulatory Commissioners’ Committee on Water and also serves on its subcommittee on Nuclear Issues-Waste Disposal, Critical Infrastructure Committee and Military Workforce Development Task Force.  She is a member of Jersey Water Works’ Green Infrastructure Committee, the N.J. Clean Water Council and the National Council on Electricity Policy.  She is Chair of the University of Missouri’s Financial Research Institute, a board member of the Center for Public Utilities at New Mexico State University and is past president of the Mid-Atlantic Conference of Regulatory Utility Commissioners.  Ms. Holden is also a member of the National Regulatory Research Institute (NRRI) Advisory Board for the Regulatory Training Initiative. 

Zeev Elkin was born in 1971 in Kharkov, then part of the Soviet Union (today in the Ukraine), and studied Mathematics at Kharkov University from 1987-1990. In the middle of high school, Elkin began learning Hebrew secretly in the framework of the Jewish underground. In 1989, he established the local Hebrew Teachers Organization, became the Deputy Head of the 100,000 member Jewish Community of Kharkov, and the first and last head of Bnei Akiva of the Soviet Union. Elkin immigrated to Israel in December of 1990 and studied at the Har Etzion Yeshiva until 1995, while at the same time working in the Aliya Department of the Gesher Organization.

Elkin has a BA in Mathematics from Hebrew University, a MA in the History of the Jewish People from the Hebrew University, and before his election to the Knesset, was at an advanced stage of completing a doctoral thesis at the Hebrew University in the subject of Jews in Islamic countries in the Middle Ages. From 1996-2006 he taught in the University’s School of History of the Jewish People and the School of History, and headed the Chais Center for Jewish Studies in Russian. In addition, he served as an advisor on Russian Jewry to the head of the Education Department of the Jewish Agency.

Elkin was first elected to the Knesset in 2006, and in the 17th Knesset he served as a member of the Finance Committee, the Education Committee, the Constitutional Committee, and the Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Committee.  In the 18th Knesset Elkin served as Chairman of the Likud Faction and Chairman of the Coalition, as well as chairman of the Sub-Committee on Judea & Samaria in the Foreign Affairs & Defense Committee, chairman of the Land of Israel Lobby, chairman of the Jerusalem Lobby, chairman of the Lobby for Supporting the Diaspora, and chairman of the Lobby for Gush Katif Evacuees. In November 2012, in the Likud primaries, Elkin placed 8th in the party primaries and was appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in March of 2013, following the general election for the 19th Knesset. Elkin held the post until May 2014, when he was appointed Chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. In the Likud primaries in December 2014, Elkin placed 7th and in May 2015, following the general election for the 20th Knesset, was appointed Minister of Aliyah and Absorption as well as Minister of Jerusalem and Heritage. In May 2016, Elkin spearheaded the initiative to add the Yisrael Beiteinu party to the government. As a result, Elkin agreed to give up the Absorption portfolio which was transferred to the Beiteinu party within the framework of the coalition agreement. Minister Elkin continues to serve as Minister of Jerusalem and Heritage and a member of the Security Cabinet and in August 2016 Minister Elkin was also appointed Minister of Environmental Protection. In May 2020, after new government was established Minister Elkin was appointed Minister of Higher and Complementary Education and Minister of Water Recourses

Elkin lives in Jerusalem.  He is married with five children.

Aviv Berkovich is the Head of the Water sector at the Israel Export Institute, a non-profit governmental agency. Aviv is specializing in Scouting and matching Israeli water tech innovation with global players. Aviv holds an MA in Conflict resolution, management and negotiation and a BA in Political Science and Government from Bar-Ilan University.

Mrs. Alon-Perel is the Minister for Economic and Trade Affairs at the Embassy  of Israel in Washington, DC, heading Israel’s trade policy vis-à-vis the United  States.

In her role, Yifat oversees the Trade and Economic Mission, aims to promote  and facilitate trade and investment between Israel and the United States, and to enhance bilateral  commercial relations. For this purpose, Mrs. Alon-Perel works closely with the U.S. federal government  agencies, as well as the private sector. In addition, Yifat oversees Israel’s engagement with the  international financial institutions, i.e. the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank.

Prior to this post, Yifat was the Director of Bilateral Trade Agreements Division at the Israeli Ministry of  Economy and Industry, negotiating free trade agreements. Mrs. Alon Perel previously served as the  commercial attaché at the Embassy of Israel in Madrid, Spain.

Ms. Alon-Perel earned a MA in Economics and a BA degree in PPE (Philosophy, Political Sciences and  Economics), both from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Yifat speaks Hebrew, Spanish and English. She is married to Shlomo, a software engineer, and a mother  of three children.

Dr. Ami Appelbaum is the Chief Scientist and the Chairman of the Board of Israel Innovation Authority. Dr. Appelbaum has more than 36 years’ experience in research, development and senior level management in the field of the Semiconductor. Prior to the current job as Chief Scientist, Dr. Appelbaum served for 22 years at numerous executive positions at KLA Tencor, $15.6B Market Cap and world leader in the business of capital equipment for the semiconductor industry based in the Silicon Valley, CA. His most recent position was Corporate Senior Vice President and president of KLA Tencor Israel.

Dr. Appelbaum holds a Doctorate and Master degrees from the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa and an Engineering degree from Ben Gurion University in Beer Sheba, all in the field of materials engineering. 

Dr. Appelbaum is the author and co-author of more than 50 scientific and technical publications, and holds 7 patents in the field of semiconductor equipment and processing. 

Mr. Balsar is the General Manager of innovation and ventures at Mekorot National Water Company. He joined Mekorot to implement the government resolution and lead the company’s investments efforts in water technology startups.

A former professional athlete and a lawyer with international experience working at both corporations (two London-based media companies) and startups (founding and managing two ventures). Mr. Balsar has four academic degrees, including an MBA from INSEAD and a Master in Philosophy.

Umair is a water industry professional and holds an MSc in Water and Environmental Engineering. He gained experience working as a Process Engineer on the design and delivery of infrastructure projects for a large water utility.

Umair has a good appreciation of all aspects of Water Treatment and at Isle has repurposed honed problem-solving and modelling skills to support clients unlock value in their digital transformation journey. From strategy to delivery, Umair takes a technology-agnostic approach to advisory at Isle. He is an associate of CIWEM and is the Vice Chair for the CIWEM Metropolitan committee.

Ing. Dr. Clifford A. Braimah is the Acting Managing Director of Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL).

Prior to his appointment in March 2017, Ing Dr. Braimah was the Dean of the School of Engineering at Tamale Polytechnic, Ghana. He joined Tamale Polytechnic in 2000 as an Instructor and rose through the ranks to become a Senior Lecturer in 2011.

Over the years, Ing. Dr. Braimah has been involved in the planning, designing, implementation and evaluation of many local and donor funded projects. Few of the projects are the Performance audit of Savelugu Water System for the Savelugu/Nanton Municipal Assembly in the Northern Region, Training of small towns water supply system operators and managers on operations and maintenance for 30 small towns in Northern Ghana, CIDA funded Development of training manual for small towns water supply system operators, Training of Engineers of MMDAs on tools in monitoring and supervision of small towns water supply systems in all 216 MMDAs in Ghana.

Ing. Dr. is a member of the Ghana Institution of Engineers and International Water Association. He is a lead author on numerous peer-reviewed journal articles on Water and Engineering.

He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Engineering and a Master of Science Degree in Environmental Resources Management from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana. He also holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Water Management from Cranfield University, UK.

Executive Director of SOFOFA HUB, is a chilean entrepreneur who has been part of the corporate innovation ecosystem during the past 15 years, leading change from private, public, and social sectors in Chile. SOFOFA is the biggest business association in Chile, representing more than 4000 firms, 22 local regional associations, and 48 industrial sector associations. SOFOFA Hub was founded in 2019 as an open innovation platform that facilitates linking business challenges to global technology solutions in a collaborative process. SOFOFA Hub has focused during the past year in Circular Economy, Climate Change and recently COVID19 challenges, working closely with industrial sectors like Agriculture, Aquaculture, Mining, Food, and Energy.

Yaron Dycian is a the chief product and strategy officer at WINT. He has over 30 years’ experience ranging from fortune 100 companies to building innovative startups. At WINT he leads products, , technology, go-to-market strategy and marketing. Prior to WINT he drove strategy and products at Consumer Physics, makers of the world’s first micro-spectrometer. Before that he was a senior executive at Trusteer, the market leader in cyber fraud protection for financial institutions later acquired by IBM for a reported $1B, the largest acquisition ever of an Israeli cyber security company.

 Prior to Trusteer Mr Dycian was at RSA, the security division of EMC following RSA’s acquisition of Cyota where he held various executive positions. Mr Dycian also worked for Mercado Software, a developer of e-commerce infrastructure software that was acquired by Omniture, now owned by Adobe systems, and prior to that with Lannet, the company that invented the Ethernet switch.

 Mr Dycian holds an MBA summa cum laude, an MS in Engineering summa cum laude, and a BSc in Mathematics and Physics with the IDF’s Talpiot excellence program.

Chief Marketing Officer / Chief Digital Officer As Chief Marketing Officer for SUEZ – Water Technologies & Solutions, Ralph Exton is responsible for providing leadership and program direction for the business’s, strategic marketing activities, communications, business development, and business strategy. In addition, Ralph is also the Chief Digital Officer, leading the business’s digital center of excellence, the core digital initiatives and overall digital strategy.