WEAO Young Professionals E-Blast

WEAO Young Professionals
th
March 11 2014
Outstanding YP Award
Nominees
E-Blast
Please vote for the WEAO Young Professional Committee’s Outstanding YP Award Nominees …
Email your votes directly to Julie Vincent ([email protected]) by Thursday, March 13th, 2014 at 4:30pm.
All YP Committee members, “members at large” (WEAO members), and Student Chapter Presidents are eligible to vote.
Natasha Niznik
Natasha Niznik has been involved with the YP Committee since the summer of 2012, after she and her team participated in that
year's Student Design Competition. Eager to give back, she acts as the YP liaison to the Communications Committee, helped to
develop the YP’s social media program and is co-chair of the 2014 Student Design Competition. Natasha also enjoys flexing her
creative muscles by creating posters and promotional material for the YPs and WEAO, the most recent of which is the 2014
WEAO Conference brochure that can be seen in the 2014 Spring issue of INFLUENTS.
Natasha works for the City of Toronto as the Humber Treatment Plant’s Engineering Technologist, fulfilling her goal of being
close to the “action” and constantly challenged. In her free time she enjoys cooking, weightlifting and unwinding with video
games.
Tiffany Chai
Tiffany has been involved with WEAO since joining the Queen’s University WEAO Student Chapter as an undergraduate. It was
here that she realized the impact the YPs have on helping students to develop and gain exposure to the water environment
industry, which inspired her to join the committee, continue that work, and pursue a career in this industry.
Having the pleasure of working together with a co-nominee in organizing the Student Design Competition, Natasha and Tiffany
have worked hard to increase the diversity of disciplines and schools entering the competition, as well as to provide networking
opportunities for the contestants. With the WEAO Student Chapter sub-committee, Tiffany created a ‘social hub’ for the
student chapters to encourage collaboration among the student chapters across Ontario, and is eager to work with the subcommittee to implement more ideas to increase the number of student chapters, and motivation/recognition for the
members. Tiffany has also collaborated with the Water For People Committee to raise awareness (in the form of water-related
facts on t-shirts), and as a new member of the committee, she is excited to contribute more public outreach ideas (which you
may experience at the conference!).
On her days off, she can still be found brainstorming and creating ideas in the form of sewing clothes.
Vote Now! – due Thursday, March 13th, 2014 at 4:30pm
[email protected]
Contact Us!
[email protected]
weao.org/youngprofessionals
@weaoyp
WEAO Young
Professionals
WEAO Young Professionals
th
March 11 2014
Vice-Chair and Treasurer
Nominees
E-Blast
Nominations for the WEAO Young Professionals Committee’s Vice-Chair and Treasurer roles were announced via email, and
nomination forms made available on weao.org from February 11th through to February 25th, 2014. Each received 1 nomination.
Both nominees (bios below) are highly-qualified for the positions that they were nominated for, and therefore have acclaimed their
respective positions. Congratulations to both of them! The WEAO YP Committee will be in good hands for 2014-2015.
Vice-Chair: Nancy Afonso (position acclaimed)
Nancy has been working at Black & Veatch for over three years as an Engineer-in-Training in the Civil Group. She has been
involved with the WEAO YPs for almost five years. She began by participating in the 2nd Student Design Competition, where she
and her team took 1st place and then represented WEAO at WEFTEC 2010 in New Orleans to take 2nd place. She was the YP
Treasurer in 2012 and is currently the Professional Development Sub-Committee Lead (formerly the Seminar & Plant Tours SubCommittee). Nancy has led the planning, organization, and execution of several major YP events such as: Greenway PCC
Biosolids and Dewatering Seminar + Site Tour; Sustainable Energy in Perspective Workshop; Sherbourne Commons Stormwater
Treatment Seminar + Site Tour; Getting Ahead At Work Workshop; and Ripley’s Aquarium Behind the Scenes Tour + Social.
Having started in this industry through her involvement with the Committee, Nancy is very grateful and wants to continue to
support the committee and help it grow - she knows first-hand what YPs can achieve when they collectively support each other
and work together. Nancy is excited about taking on the additional responsibility of Vice-Chair and continuing to promote the
YP group. In her spare time, Nancy's interests are diverse and include music, camping, baking, hiking, travelling, and anything
water related. Always keeping a positive attitude she's willing to try anything, especially if it's adventurous!
Treasurer: Rafiq Qutub (position acclaimed)
Rafiq is a process engineer with AECOM with 7 years’ experience in the water environment industry. He has been involved with
WEAO Young Professionals Committee since 2008 and has been the Student Design Competition (SDC) Subcommittee Chair
from 2010 – 2013.
Rafiq is currently an advisor to the 2014 SDC Subcommittee and is assisting the YP 2014 Conference Subcommittee. Through
his work experience as a site engineer, Rafiq has managed the construction budgets of several projects totalling $30 million. In
addition, he is experienced in project planning, budgeting and earned value management, which are valuable skills for the
Treasurer position.
Thank You for your nominations for these key
WEAO YP Committee roles!
Contact Us!
[email protected]
weao.org/youngprofessionals
@weaoyp
WEAO Young
Professionals

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