Great Lakes Water Authority CEO and leadership

Jeffrey E. Small is the Chief Information Officer for the Great Lakes Water Authority.

In his role as Chief Information Officer, Mr. Small provides strategic IT leadership, customer service, innovation and information security for the regional authority. Jeff is adept at leveraging technology in conjunction with business process re-engineering to improve productivity and internal efficiencies across the organization.

Jeff brings 30 years of information technology, project management, and business process experience to GLWA. Immediately prior to joining the GLWA team, he served for four years as Deputy Chief Information Officer at Wayne County, Michigan. Prior to his work at Wayne County, Mr. Small held IT leadership roles at several global companies in a cross-section of industries, including retail, sourcing, brand management and consumer products.

Mr. Small holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from The George Washington University and an MBA in Computer Information Systems from Baker College. He serves on several nonprofit boards related to technology in both the public and private sectors and was named 2019 IT Professional of the Year by the Michigan chapter of the Government Management Information Sciences.

Cheryl Porter is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Great Lakes Water Authority's Water and Field Services Area where she oversees five water treatment facilities and water transmission to the Authority's member partner communities, ensuring GLWA's water consistently meets and exceeds all quality standards and regulations.

Ms. Porter is an active member of the American Water Works Association. In addition to serving as a Michigan Section Trustee (2018-2021) and sitting on the Section's Government Affairs Council, Ms. Porter also currently serves on AWWA's national board as Director-at-Large (2019-2022), as well as on its Finance Committees (2018- 2021). In 2017, Crain's Detroit Business recognized her as one of Detroit's Women in Leadership.

Ms. Porter provides leadership that's grounded in experience and manages engineers, field staff and administrative and technical support personnel. Her broad knowledge base in the water service sector began at DWSD as a Junior Chemist, where her dedication yielded eventual advancement to Water Production and Operations Manager. As the COO of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD), she was part of the team that helped establish GLWA in 2016.

Ms. Porter earned her BS degree from the University of Michigan, an MBA with a concentration in Human Resources Management from Madonna University, and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. Ms. Porter maintains State of Michigan operator certifications for both Water Distribution (S-3) and Complete Treatment (F-1). Under her direction, GLWA's Water Works Park received the "2019 Directors Award for Water Treatment" from the Partnership for Safe Water (PSW).

Jody Caldwell is the Interim Chief Planning Officer for the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA).

Mr. Caldwell brings more than 21 years of private consultation, municipal operations and maintenance, and asset management experience to GLWA. Prior to his appointment as Chief Planning Officer, Mr. Caldwell served as the Asset Management Director for the enterprise-wide asset management group for over five years. He helped to support functional areas by coordinating overall asset management strategies, objectives, and activities to ensure decisions are informed by risk, regional needs, and life cycle considerations.

Prior to his service with GLWA, Jody was a Chief Engineer at Oakland County’s Water Resources Commissioner’s Office (WRC) where he worked for 12 years in many different capacities. In this role, Mr. Caldwell was responsible for oversight of multiple areas including capital, asset management and planning, finance and budgeting, water operations and maintenance, water engineering, and cross connection control.

During his time with WRC, Mr. Caldwell worked closely with the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) and GLWA. He was the Oakland County representative on the DWSD Board of Water Commissioners, served as the water technical advisory committee and wastewater steering committee co-chairs, and was an important part of the DWSD-GLWA transition efforts.

Mr. Caldwell is a registered professional engineer in the state of Michigan and holds a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Michigan State University.

Michelle A. Zdrodowski is Chief Public Affairs Officer for the Great Lakes Water Authority.

In her capacity as Chief Public Affairs Officer, Ms. Zdrodowski guides the organization's efforts to build and maintain its relationships with internal and external stakeholder communities.

Ms. Zdrodowski brings nearly 30 years of strategic communications and community engagement experience to GLWA. Immediately prior to joining the GLWA team, she served as Chief Communications Officer for Detroit Public Schools during a period of unprecedented challenge and change. Her previous public sector communications experience also includes her tenure as Deputy Press Secretary to former Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer. Ms. Zdrodowski also spent more than a decade leading the nonprofit/government practice group for a Detroit-based public relations agency.

Ms. Zdrodowski holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from Michigan State University.

Navid Mehram is the Chief Operating Officer for the Great Lakes Water Authority's Wastewater Operating Services.

Prior to assuming this position, Mr. Mehram served as the Chief Engineer at the Oakland County Water Resource Commissioner's office. During his tenure at the Oakland County WRC, he led the transitioning of the City of Pontiac's water and wastewater operations and maintenance from private contract operations to county operations. The transformation included design and construction of a new state of the art biosolids processing system. This innovative process was the first in Michigan and the third in North America. In his capacity Mr. Mehram also provided leadership for engineering, field staff member and administrative and technical support personal providing service for a number of county facilities including three treatment facilities, over two hundred pump stations, community wells and retentions basins. Mr. Mehram brings over 10 years of extensive experience specializing in design and construction of water treatment, water resource recovery and pumping systems as a consultant. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of Michigan, who graduated from Wayne State University with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, and as a member of Chi Epsilon - a National Civil Engineering Honor Society.

Nicolette N. Bateson, CPA is the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Treasurer for the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA).

Ms. Bateson's service follows her tenure as the first CFO for the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, which began in February 2013. In that role she led the Financial Services Group through a significant transformation effort engaging cross-functional teams to achieve sustainable change. The result was a professionalized department with an unprecedented demonstration of transparency to all stakeholders. This pivotal effort supported intensive, collaborative discussions that were essential to forming the regional authority.

Ms. Bateson possesses extensive financial and public administration experience. As a visiting specialist for the State and Local Government Program with Michigan State University Extension, Ms. Bateson worked with state and local officials to address the needs of cities in fiscal stress. Her research, educational programs and writings related to public-sector financial challenges are often cited. In her roles as Assistant City Manager and Finance Director in local government, she was responsible for strategic planning, financial turnaround, information technology, labor relations, employee benefit design, project management and deploying multi-year budgeting and long-range capital planning. Ms. Bateson's professional career began with a national accounting firm serving clients in the construction, manufacturing, and nonprofit sector.

Ms. Bateson earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in professional accountancy from the University of Michigan-Dearborn and a Master of Public Administration degree in public administration from Eastern Michigan University.

Terri Tabor Conerway brings approximately three decades of comprehensive Human Resource, Labor Relations, and Training Experience to her position as Chief Organizational Development Officer with the Great Lakes Water Authority.

Prior to this position, Ms. Conerway served as Organizational Development Director for the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, Human Resources Director for the Detroit Public Library and held numerous managerial positions since beginning her career with the City of Detroit in 1972.

Ms. Conerway holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Wayne State University and has completed post-degree work in Educational Psychology at the University of Michigan. Ms. Conerway is certified as a facilitator for Vital Smarts and Franklin Covey training platforms.