Seth Brown, Executive Director of the National Municipal Stormwater Alliance

Seth Brown has over 25 years of experience in the water sector and is the principal and founder of Storm and Stream Solutions, LLC, a consulting firm providing a range of services from policy and alternative project delivery analysis in the stormwater sector to facilitation and training services focused on stormwater topics. He was the director of Stormwater Programs at the Water Environment Federation from 2010-2015 and is currently the executive director of the National Municipal Stormwater Alliance, which is a 501.c.3 representing stormwater-focused organization in 25 states across 9 of the 10 U.S. EPA regions with a network that is comprised of over 4,400 MS4s. 

Brown has a Ph.D. in civil engineering from George Mason University with a research focus on socio-economic modeling of incentive-based investments of green stormwater infrastructure on private properties. He leads courses in green infrastructure and innovative water partnerships at Virginia Tech and the University of Maryland at Eastern Shore and is a licensed professional engineer in the state of Maryland. 

Jessica Field, National Practice Lead for Drainage & Stormwater at WSP

Jessica Field, PE PMP is responsible for national strategy, organic growth, technical excellence, and innovation. She serves on major projects as Future Ready advisor, risk manager, engineering manager, or quality manager. She has extensive experience in delivering civil infrastructure, master planning, and environmental permitting. With a background in water resources, Jessica’s technical expertise lies in stormwater management, watershed planning, green infrastructure, SWPPP, storm drain and culvert design, flood control master plans, riverine and bridge hydraulics, FEMA flood hazard mapping, levee and detention design, dam breach analysis, Emergency Action Plans, channel design, and scour analysis.

Sarah Ganley, Bohannan Huston's Stormwater Quality and Regional NPDES Expert

Sarah Ganley, PE, ENV SP, is Bohannan Huston’s Stormwater Quality and Regional NPDES expert, with over 20 years of experience in Water Resources and Environmental Engineering. Sarah is a Vice President in the Surface Water Group at Bohannan Huston, Inc. She provides comprehensive NPDES Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) stormwater compliance support to clients throughout New Mexico. Sarah is a surface water quality expert bringing technical experience in hydrology and hydraulics as well as expertise in Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) and Low Impact Development (LID) planning, policy support, Best Management Practice (BMP) implementation, surface water quality analysis, and stormwater quality compliance

Brian Merritt,  Global Advisory - Strategic Advisory / Regulatory Support Black & Veatch

Brian Merritt is a manager with Black & Veatch Management Consulting based in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. With a background in civil engineering and more than 20 years of stormwater related experience, he has helped communities ranging in population from 10,000 to 1.56 million develop and maintain their stormwater utilities. He has extensive experience leading outreach efforts for implementation projects and understands the balance needed in communicating engineering topics and financial needs to the public to build broader support for change. He has helped communities gain the resources needed to address both aging infrastructure as well as the beginning to tackle the impacts of climate change.  Merritt holds a B.S. and M.S. in civil engineering from Lehigh University. 

Jason Schmidt, Lead Inspector & Environmental Specialist, City of Portland

For the past 15 years, Jason Schmidt has worked in various roles with organizations to improve water quality and riparian habitat in Oregon and California. His experience ranges from rural to urban; from the riparian zone to the rooftop; and with both non-profits and governments. Currently, Schmidt is the lead inspector and environmental specialist for the City of Portland’s Stormwater Maintenance Inspection Program, which conducts routine maintenance inspections for private stormwater management facilities that are installed on private property to meet the city’s Stormwater Management Manual requirements for new development and retrofits. These facilities include green roofs, living walls, and all kinds of vegetated systems. He is passionate about green infrastructure, native plants, and the ecology and watersheds of the Pacific Northwest. An avid traveler, backpacker, cyclist, and musician, Schmidt rarely finds a time or a place where water is not on his mind. 

Harry Stark, Director of Engineering and Public Services, City of Aurora

Harry Stark, MPA, CPMSM, is the director of Engineering and Public Services for the City of Aurora, Ohio. Stark has more than 31 years of experience in administrative activities and multiple areas of expertise. With a background in public administration and project development and management, he is well-versed in working with a variety of groups including planning commissions, steering committees, councils, local political groups, citizen groups and organizations, non-profit organizations and other groups and has given many presentations at a variety of venues.  

Stark also serves as the past-president of the Ohio Stormwater Association, executive director of the Annual Ohio Stormwater Conference, editorial board for Stormwater Solutions magazine, state of Ohio representative for Envirocert International and several other volunteer activities. He assisted in the development of Tinker’s Creek Watershed Partners in 2005. He has previously served as the president of Tinker’s Creek Watershed Partners, chair for the Northeast Ohio Watershed Council, vice chair of Envirocert’s CPMSM Board of Directors, district director for the Ohio Environmental Health Association, and member of Streetsboro Recreation and Preservation Committee and Master Plan Committee. Mr. Stark has a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of South Florida, a master's degree in public administration from the University of Akron and is a 2012 graduate of Leadership Medina. He has received the Storm Water Professional of the Year from the Ohio Stormwater Association, Distinguished Service Award (2020) from Envirocert, Distinguished Service Award and Wayne S. Nichol’s Award from the Water Management Association of Ohio, District Director Service Award from the Ohio Environmental Health Association, and Business Advocate of the Year from the Wadsworth Chamber of Commerce.