2005 Winter Issue 2.45 MB - the American Water Works Association ...

Membership Committee
By Edward Doi
With the encouragement of Walt Hager and Jon Muraoka, I applied for an open position on the
American Water Works Association (AWWA) Membership Committee last July 2005. I was
invited to join and I accepted to serve on this committee. My first AWWA Membership Committee
Meeting was held in San Juan, Puerto Rico this past January 2006.
The AWWA Membership Committee is made up of 12 members from different sections of AWWA. Our
major objective is to set forth and advocate strategies, programs and policies to build and retain membership
in the Association and my personal role is to be a liaison between AWWA and section membership chairs.
As a newcomer, I was very impressed to learn how active this group is. Individually, each of the committee
members were very easygoing and personable, yet appropriately professional, and everyone was serious
about accomplishing the task set before us. Our meeting covered a wide variety of topics and action items
from AWWA's membership net growth goal of 3% to brain storming ideas on membership retention. By the
end of our session, we had discovered a common trait among us, we are all passionate about membership and
we hope to infuse others with the same excitement about membership growth and retention.
I believe that members in AWWA benefit from
the knowledge and opportunities this organization
has to offer such as educational literature, classes,
workshops, conferences, and most of all networking.
Since the majority of section member participation
in the AWWA Hawaii Section is comprised of
volunteers, I commend those self employed individuals
who volunteer their time as well as the employers
who support and encourage their employees to get
involved. This participation on a volunteer basis
is vital to our section, is greatly appreciated and
will continue to be encouraged. Join us and find out
why being a part of AWWA is beneficial to all
participants.
NILAKSH continued from cover page
engineering. His professional affliations include the
American Public Power Association, Great Lakes
Utilities, Municipal Environmental Group, and the
American Society of Civil Engineers.
Nilaksh and his wife, Dipika, live in Manitowoc,
Wisconsin where he is the general manager of public
utilities.
Winter 2006 AWWA/Hawaii Section 15