Water Innovation Leadership Development Program

Benefits of the Program

Through this leadership program, participants will:

Expand self-awareness of your current leadership style and set goals for a personal leadership development roadmap.
Understand, apply, and integrate new tools and skills in leadership, innovative thinking, and creative problem-solving.
Broaden your leadership capacity to advance equity and inclusion within your water utility and communities.
Gain confidence in building and engaging collaborative, cross-functional teams.
Identify opportunities and become an active partner alongside the nation’s network of water industry allies.

Fellows will earn a Certificate of Completion from 91��’s Nicholas School of the Environment upon completing the program.

Learning Topics

Personal, organizational, and community leadership
Leading for innovation
Leading for equity and inclusion
Change management
Leadership Communications
Special interest topics relevant to the WILD cohort

Program Cost

Due to generous support from our funders, full scholarships are available to all program fellows. Scholarships include the tuition for all sessions, as well as travel and lodging for two in-person workshops.

Fellows will be able to participate in all program activities without any cost to themselves or their utility.

Modules & Projects

All modules (both in-person and online) will rely extensively on peer-to-peer learning, team-based sessions, and building a community of practice. Fellows will each have opportunities to lead and co-lead sessions and be accountable to each other. Networking and collaborative problem-solving are essential components of the program.

Capstone Project

Each fellow will be responsible for completing a solo capstone project, in line with their career goals or current professional/work projects. Individual capstone projects serve as both a personal “laboratory” experiment to try new leadership approaches offered through the program, and as a “gym” where fellows will strengthen their communication and leadership responsiveness muscles. Fellows’ capstone projects also serve as “live” case studies throughout the program, and all participants benefit from the topics and challenges being tackled by other fellows.

Successful capstone projects are impactful and meaningful to fellows’ customers, communities and/or organizations, and invite an audacious self-developmental growth opportunity from each fellow.

Capstone Project Examples

Fellow leadership capstones have included examples such as the following:

Develop an efficient, AI-based integrated real-time decision making platform (Digital Twin) in order to make unified, consistent, reliable and futuristic/sustainable decisions within the utility.
Create a robust Diversity and Inclusion Program at the utility, through building and maintaining a mentorship program utility staff.
Increase water affordability for community members, using industrial surcharging to create an equitable distribution of wastewater treatment cost.
Develop a collaborative program with Public Works, local unions, and local public schools to help students learn about public works careers and create a pipeline into the water workforce.

The WILD program provided me a unique opportunity to gain knowledge and insight from other water sector utility leaders from across the country. Aside from learning what my peers were doing to solve similar problems, I was able to create connections and expand my professional network with a wonderful group of people.”

—Jorge Rodriguez, Deputy Director of Utility Services at Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission

Course Format & Time Commitment

The program format follows a hybrid-learning model based on the top-ranked Duke Environmental Leadership Master of Environmental Management (DEL-MEM) distance learning program: in-depth workshops supported by facilitated online sessions.

In-person workshops: The 2024-2025 cohort will meet in person for (2) three-day workshops: one opening workshop in late September 2024, and one closing workshop in April 2025. Both will take place on the 91�� campus in Durham, North Carolina.
Synchronous online sessions: Over the course of the program, there will be approximately five online sessions, each lasting one or two hours (see program dates below). The synchronous online sessions, activities, and coaching will be led by a program leadership facilitator. Online group leadership sessions are designed to assist fellows on their journey, help them track their skill development, and provide peer and facilitated support.
Asynchronous work between online sessions is expected to be 5-10 hours per month to advance personal progress on a capstone project and maximize collaboration and networking with the WILD network.

Program Schedule

The program includes two in-person intensive workshops according to the schedule below. In-person sessions will take place from morning to evening, except on the last day of each workshop which will end mid-day. Arrival travel will need to take place on the day before each workshop and departure travel will take place on the evening of the last day of each workshop.

Online sessions are planned once a month, at the times listed below.

Fellows must be able to commit to each of the workshops and online sessions.

Schedule of Important Dates

Application period

The application deadline is June 30, 2024. We will notify fellows of selection in July 2024.

FALL 2024

Opening Workshop: Friday, Sep 20, 2024 through Sunday, September 22, 2024
October 15, 2024 @ 8:00-9:15 pm ET – Online Session
November 19, 2024 @ 7:00-9:00 pm ET – Online Session
December 2024 – Winter Break, No Session

Spring 2025

January 28, 2025 @ 8:00-9:15 pm ET – Online Session
February 18, 2025 @ 8:00-9:15 pm EST – Online Session
March 18, 2025 @ 8:00-9:15 pm EST – Online Session
Closing Workshop: Friday, April 4, 2025 through Sunday, April 6, 2025

Apply

Application Deadline

The application deadline is June 30, 2024. We will notify fellows of selection in July 2024.

Program Requirements

Fellows must commit to attending the entirety of both 3-day in-person workshops, as well as all of the scheduled online sessions.
Because fellows will need to take approximately 4 business days to attend each of the two in-person workshops (including travel), employers must also demonstrate a commitment to allowing the fellows to travel and fully engage.
For the online sessions, fellows must have access to reliable internet with video conferencing (Zoom) capabilities.

Fellow Selection Criteria

Applicants should be currently employed in a non-consultant role at a water service provider (water authority, water or wastewater utility, water association; or water company) in the United States. Priority will be given to applicants who desire careers within public water services management.
The WILD program targets emerging and rising leaders at water service providers that primarily work with under-resourced communities.
The program is geared to support rising leaders who demonstrate potential and desire to steer and enact “outside the box” solutions to the most pressing issues facing the U.S. water services sector today.
Applicants will be assessed based on their demonstrated evidence and potential for rising leadership within their utility and/or the water utility sector.
We seek to build an inclusive cohort that reflects leaders of different geographies, identities, cultural backgrounds and communities. We strongly encourage individuals from under-served and under-represented communities in the water sector to apply.
To foster effective peer-to-peer learning, this program would be most suited to managers in utilities that serve a population of at least 20,000 people.
Fellows traditionally have between 5-15 years in the water sector, demonstrating increasing responsibility within their roles.

Meet previous program fellows

Questions?

Please contact our Executive Education team at the Nicholas School of the Environment, at dukeenvironplus@duke.edu.

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