Governance

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Our Governance

The IDRA Board of Directors is composed of three parts: elected directors, regional affiliate directors, and association affiliate directors. Every term, the IDRA membership votes for 21 elected directors. Represented regions include MEA, Europe, North America, Latin America / Caribbean, and Pacific Asia. At the biennial World Congress, these elected directors meet and determine the slate of officers, appointed officers and committee co-chairs.

Regional Affiliate Directors are nominated by IDRA’s nine regional affiliate organizations and act as part of the IDRA board to represent regional affiliate interests, and each carries a vote in the business of the Board. Collaborating with the IDRA to enact sustainable water solutions, these affiliates work in partnership with the IDRA. Regional Affiliates include Asociación Española de Desalación y Reutilización (AEDyR), American Membrane Technology Association (AMTA), Australian Water Association (AWA), Caribbean Desalination Association (CaribDA), European Desalination Society (EDS), Japan Desalination Association (JDA), Levant Desalination Association (LDA), The Membrane Industry Association of China (MIAC), and Water Desalination Engineering Chapter Saudi Arabia (WDEC).

Like Regional Affiliate Directors, Association Affiliate Directors are nominated by IDRA’s seven affiliated associations and act as part of the IDRA board to represent association affiliate interests. Represented associations include Asia Pacific Desalination Association (APDA), Asociación Latinoamericana de Desalación y Reúso del Agua (ALADYR), Indian Desalination Association (InDA), Korea Desalination Plant Association (KDPA), Pakistan Desalination Association (PakDA), Singapore Water Association (SWA), and Water Science and Technology Association (WSTA).

Standing Committees

Please, hover over the blue icon to see committee members and co-chair names.

Operations Committee

The Operation Committee is the executive committee of IDRA, chaired by the President with composition defined by the constitution:
The Operations Committee shall be composed of eight Directors, including the President, First Vice President, Second Vice President, and Secretary General.

Mr. Fady Juez

Mr. Jon Freedman
Ms. Jantje Johnson
Mr. Carlos Cosin
Mr. Devesh Sharma
Mr. Imad Makhzoumi
Mr. Jose Diaz Caneja
Ms. Shannon McCarthy

 

 

Finance Committee

The Treasurer is the Chair of the Finance committee. The mandate is to review the association’s finances; prepare quarterly financial reports based on data supplied by the Secretary General and Accountant.

Mr. Imad Makhzoumi

Mr. Rachid Ghomraoui

Ms. Shannon McCarthy

Constitution & Bylaws Committee

The Constitution Committee reviews the Association’s Constitution and Bylaws and, as needed, makes motions to amend the constitution or bylaws following the procedures outlined in the constitution requiring a membership vote. They are also responsible for updating changes and structuring any membership voting for revisions or updates to the Constitution and Bylaws.

Mr. Jon Freedman

Ms. Shannon McCarthy

Publications Committee

The publications committee reports to the Editor and assists the SG. Together with the Editor, the publications committee reviews new and existing IDRA publications and makes recommendations to the board on updating existing publications.

Dr. Marshall Davert

Dr. Emilio Gabbrielli
Mrs. Jantje Johnson

Ms. Shannon McCarthy

Membership & Elections Committee

The Membership and Election Committee is responsible for reviewing all new members and regularly submitting the names to the Board for acceptance. The committee is also responsible for recommending any dues increase and new membership categories for review. The committee also develops new membership development campaigns to increase and retain membership. The other function of the committee is to prepare a slate of directors once every two years and provide this to the office to ensure that the ballot for new directors is adequately populated.
The membership committee must have at least one General Member for each region.

Mr. Johnny Obeid
Mr. Victor Verbeek

Ms. Shannon McCarthy

IDRA Seville Summit 2023 Thematic High-Level Sessions Committee

The committee is to identify high-level panel discussion themes for the conference in line with the widespread use of unconventional water resource solutions to meet climate adaptation, decarbonization of the water sector, circular water economy, building resilient cities, project financing, legal and regulatory frameworks, water-energy-food nexus, innovation, and discussions on the future of water. The primary function of this committee is to prepare the Thematic Program for the Summit.

Dr. Gonzalo Delacamara

Mr. Carlos Cosin
Mr. Jose Diaz-Caneja
Dr. Marshall Davert
Dr. Hubert Fleming
Mr. Jon Freedman
Ms. Shannon McCarthy
Mr. Eduardo Orteu
Dr. Gavin Van Tonder

IDA Seville Summit 2023 Technical Program Committee

The primary function of this committee is to prepare the Technical Program for the 2023 Seville Summit. The functions include preparing the Call for Papers and the allocation of abstracts; preparing session categories; nominating session co-chairs; and reviewing all abstracts, draft manuscripts, and final presentations.

Ms. Jantje Johnson
Mrs. Marta Verde

Mr. Miguel Angel Sanz
Dr. Hoon Hyung
Dr. Domingo Zarzo
Mr. Alejandro Sturniolo
Mr. Mounib Hatab
Mr. Youqing Li
Dr. Victor Monsalvo
Eng. Nikolay Voutchkov

Ms. Shannon McCarthy

 

Scholarship, Education and Fellowship Committee

This committee administers the IDRA Scholarship, Education, and Fellowship programs. They recommend candidates for the programs, review applications, and make appropriate awards according to the criteria. They also assist the office team in fundraising to offset the grants and locate agencies for the fellowship program.

Mr. Youqing Li

Dr. Emilio Gabbrielli
Prof. Noam Lior
Mr. Mohamad Amin Saad
Ms. Olga Sollangos

Ms. Shannon McCarthy

Audit Committee

This committee includes the Comptroller as Chairman, and the remaining committee members may not be Directors. They should have avoided business dealings with the Association during the past year. IDRA conducts an audit in the first year of the term and a financial review in the second year.

Mr. Rachid Ghomraoui

Mr. Imad Makhzoumi

Ms. Shannon McCarthy

World Congress 2024 Technical Program Committee

The mandate of this committee is to determine the technical program panels and peer-reviewed technical program themes on municipal and industrial water needs.

Ms. Jantje Johnson
Dr. Marshall Davert
Mr. Victor Verbeek

 

Ms. Shannon McCarthy

World Congress 2024 Thematic High-Level Sessions Committee

The mandate of this committee is to work with the SG to determine themes for the opening ceremony, leader’s summit, and innovation forum.

Mr. Carlos Cosin
Mr. Devesh Sharma
Dr. Gonzalo Delacamara
Dr. Gavin Van Tonder
Dr. Hu Fleming

Mr. Thomas Altmann
Dr. Marshall Davert

Ms. Shannon McCarthy

Special Committees

Affiliates Committee

The role of this committee is to develop and confirm recirpicol MOU’s are in place, promote collaboration and cross marketing of events, including scheduling to avoid conflict. Additionally, the committee should address any concerns. The committee should be composed of the official representative from each affiliate.
The Committee should confirm the annual cross-over requirements are maintained for voting integrity and standing on the IDRA Board of Directors.

Mr. Devesh Sharma
Mr. Borja Blanco

Mr. Antonio Casanas (AEDYR)
Mr. Greg Wetterau (AMTA)
Dr. Mike Dixon (AWA)
Dr. Giancarlo Barassi (CaribDa)
Ms. Olga Sallangos (EDS)
Mr. Koichi Tsuzuki (JDA)
Mr. Ziad Salibi (LDA)
Dr. Guoling Ruan (MIAC)
Dr. Masaru Kurihara (APDA)
Mr. Juan Miguel Pinto (ALADYR)
Dr. S.P. Chaurasia (InDA)
Mr. Hwang Young-jin, (KDPA)
Eng. Fayyaz Muddassir Mubeen (PakDa)
Mr. Chew Men Leong (SWA)
Mr. Ali Redha Hussain (WSTA)

Ms. Shannon McCarthy

IDRA Multilateral Agencies, Financial Institutions, and Legal Advisory Committee

Mr. Carlos Cosin
Mr. Jon Freedman
Dr. Gonzalo Delacamara

Ms. Shannon McCarthy

Site Selection Committee

This committee is charged with reviewing all bids for the 2026 IDRA World Congress and may suggest or invite countries to prepare bid packages which will be reviewed by the committee. The same should be done for the 2025 IDRA Summit on Water and Climate Change.

Mr. Imad Makhzoumi
Mr. Carlos Cosin

Ms. Shannon McCarthy

Technical Awards Committee

This committee nominates and selects the best paper awards at the World Congress and also nominates and selects candidates for special categories i.e. Lifetime Achievements, and others.

Mr. Munib Hatab
Dr. Hoon Hyung

Ms. Shannon McCarthy

Water +, Carbon Neutral, Environmental Stewardship Committee

The objective of the Environmental Stewardship Committee is to encourage the industry to implement best practices on environment and energy efficiency in all desalination and water reuse projects using the best available and most appropriate technologies according to the location of the plants. This committee will facilitate discussion of environmental issues associated with desalination and water reuse.

Mr. Jose Diaz-Caneja
Mr. Alejandro Sturniolo
Mr. Imad Makhzoumi

Mr. Domingo Zarzo
Mr. Giancarlo Barassi
Mr. Guillem Gilabert
Ms. Eva Jalon
Mr. Daniele Strongone
Mr. Devesh Sharma
Mr. Manuel De La Mata
Mr. Silvio Oliva
Mr. Guillame Clairet
Mr. Javier Romero
Mr. Mike Dixon
Mr. Rodrigo Segovia
Mr. Devesh Baradwaj
Ms. Miriam Brusilosvki
Mr. Carlos Cosin
Mrs. Tracey Nolan-Shaw
Mr. Khaled Al Qureshi
Mr. Miguel Sanz
Mr. Roberto Fiume
Mr. Juan Miguel Pinto
Mr. Fernando Saroglia
Ms. Hattie Wang
Mr. Jorge Malfeito
Ms. Paola Bertossi
Ms. Elena De La Vieja
Ms. Mariela Cartucci
Mr. Henry Charrabe
Mr. Gonzalo De La Camara
Mr. Wetterau Greg
Mr. Daniel Catanzaro
Mr. Joan Galtes
Mr. Fady Juez
Mr. Mohannad Al Malki
Ms. Antonella De Luca
Mr. Victor Verbeek
Mr. Borja Blanco
Mr. Nicholas Nelson

Ms. Shannon McCarthy

IDRA Public and Private Sector Utility Advisory Committee

The IDRA Public and Private Utility Special Advisory Committee will determine public and private sector utilities in all regions that need or already use desalination and water reuse solutions to offset water scarcity and engage with them in knowledge-sharing activities and forums. This committee is led by H.E. Khalid Al Qureshi, CEO, Saudi Water Partnership Company.

H.E. Eng. Khaled Al Qureshi
Mr. Fermin Lopez
Dr. Abraham Negaresh
Mr. Alejandro Sturniolo
Mr. Sulaiman Turki
Mr. Fahad Al Muhazi
Mr. Paul Sciuto

IDRA Industrial Water Reuse and Desalination Advisory Committee

The committee aim is to establish IDRA as a resource to industrial sectors about desalination and water reuse policy, economics, water positive certification programs, and technology solutions.

Mr. Jose Diaz-Caneja
Mr. Silvio Oliva
Mr. Devesh Sharma

Dr. Veronica Garcia
Mr. Michael Lesniak
Dr. Victor Monsalvo

Ms. Shannon McCarthy

Young Leaders Program Committee

The goals of this initiative are to help promote opportunities in the industry, support career advancement, and provide a forum for communication and the exchange of ideas among young professionals and the industry at large.

Mr. Victor Verbeek
Dr. Mike Dixon
Dr. Giancarlo Barassi

Ms. Shannon McCarthy

Honorary Council Committee

Mr. Mutaz Ghandour
Mr. Fouad Makhzoumi
Mr. David Furukawa
Dr. Emilio Gabbrielli
Mr. Ghassan Ejjeh
Dr. Jim Birkett
Mr. Jose Medina
Mr. Leon Awerbuch
Dr. Masaru Kurihara

 

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