
Developing Water Solutions across the largest freshwater ecosystems on the planet
Participants will attend one of the in-person components
COMPONENT A
SEPT 15-18, 2022
SAULT STE. MARIE & BRUCE MINES, ONTARIO
OR
COMPONENT B
SEPT 30 – OCT 2, 2022
TRAVERSE CITY, MICHIGAN
About WIL Great Lakes
Waterlution, and our partners, are pleased to launch WIL-Great Lakes, a capacity building and innovation acceleration initiative involving young water leaders who work across the Great Lakes region from both Canada and the USA (Northern Turtle Island) who together develop new innovations and approaches across the Great Lakes’ region.
The program combines leadership and skills training with technical expertise from Northwestern Michigan College, coupled with community-led on-the-land knowledge sharing to stimulate and accelerate innovative solution-making, with partners in Sault St, Marie, Ontario.
Core Themes
Innovation teams will create entrepreneurial projects that tackle one of three core themes:
- Water systems monitoring technologies
- Fisheries and habitat monitoring technologies
- High-Resolution mapping including benthic and LIDAR mapping
- Data management, applications, and dissemination
STAY CONNECTED
OUR Water in the Great Lakes needs
INNOVATION
The Water Innovation Lab, known as WIL, is a front-running, immersive leadership training designed to accelerate collaborative innovation, fast-track global knowledge-sharing and devise new innovations that improve water security. WIL supports emerging leaders and entrepreneurs (19-35 yrs) across water and climate change disciplines to learn and innovate together. WIL develops future water leaders to think holistically, design innovatively, and communicate effectively across cultures.
WIL Great Lakes takes place within the traditional and ancestral lands of the Anishinabe, Ojibwe and Odawa people and Indigenous youth of all Nations are highly encouraged to apply.







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Mentors & Coaches
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Themes
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In-person Components for Hands-on Learning
PROGRAM DETAILS
ABOUT THE GREAT LAKES
The Great Lakes ecosystem is the largest fresh water system in the world and supports the economies & livelihood of people living across Northern Turtle Island in Canada and the US. The scale of these water bodies is so large that managing and protecting them can be a daunting task. At the heart of managing and protecting the Great Lakes is the need for collaboration, sharing knowledge, working together – on both sides of the US and Canadian border – to address gaps, and develop skills of young professionals across water/marine sectors to support resilient communities across the Great Lakes to ensure their protection for decades to come.
With this in mind, participants at WIL Great Lakes will work together to address the following themes:
- Water systems monitoring technologies
- Fisheries and habitat monitoring technologies
- High-Resolution mapping including benthic and LIDAR mapping
- Data management, applications, and dissemination
WHO can apply?
Open to young professionals (ages 19-35) living, working or studying in Canada or the USA (Northern Turtle Island). We welcome and encourage applications from women and all genders as well as Black, Indigenous and People of Colour.
Fees
Due to the generous support from our partners, there are no fees to attend WIL Great Lakes.
WIL Great Lakes
interactive online training sessions
Participants will gather during 2 interactive online training sessions, where experts will share knowledge on the themes and the WIL community will be developed.
in-person collaboration trainings
Participants will then be invited to attend one of two in-person collaboration trainings, based on the nature of their Great Lakes innovation project:
- Sault Ste. Marie, Canada – September 15-18, 2022
- Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City, USA – Sept 30 – Oct 2, 2022
The in-person 3-day immersive trainings are a deep-dive components of the program for skills development, local field tours, traditional knowledge (Sault St. Marie) and extensive technological knowledge, farmers and fisher people, and innovation project development. Each training will be tailored to local expert knowledge, place-base learnings, field tours, and Resource Guests, allowing participants to attend that which is most relevant to their innovation project, and allow for one-on-one mentorship with experts.
*All in-person programs will only take place if safe to do so in the context of the global pandemic. Adaptations will be made as necessary if gathering is no longer possible.
Schedule
1hr Mentorship Meeting
Date TBD
July – August
Virtual Training Session 1
Skills Training, Networking, Community Building
September 13, 2022
2-hour session 12noon to 2 p.m. EST
Virtual Training Session 2
World Cafe with Expert Resource Guests
September 20, 2022
2-hour session 12noon to 2 p.m. EST
In Person Collaboration
September – October, 2022
In Person Collaboration
September – October, 2022
Participants will be invited to attend one of two in-person collaboration trainings, based on the nature of their Great Lakes innovation project. The focus of the gatherings will be to explore the themes through field tours, immersive on-the-land learning, innovation project development & acceleration, and mentorship:
1. SEPTEMBER 15-18, 2022
Sault Ste. Marie & Bruce Mines,
Ontario, Canada
- Learning circle with Indigneous Knowledge holders
- Lab and field tours looking at water quality monitoring and citizen science
- Getting out on the water in canoes and kayaks and learning with local leaders
- Skills Training and collaboration with team members to advance innovation projects
2. SEPTEMBER 30-Oct 2, 2022
NMC in Traverse City, USA
- Technical training, field and lab tours looking at wastewater treatment, water quality monitoring, and well testing
- Benthic lidar mapping of the Great Lakes
- Getting out on the water, boat tours and data collection
- Skills Training and collaboration with team members to advance innovation projects
October – February
Virtual Mentorship, Coaching and Prototype Testing
Project teams will receive extended mentorship for team innovation projects, acceleration of project development, and potentially initial piloting or prototyping (depending on nature of innovation project) of innovative solutions.
WHY JOIN?
Past WIL Participants
“An excellent experience. The ability to meet, collaborate, learn from, and work with various individuals from across Canada and the world made the WIL Global program one to remember. I would suggest any young professional coming up in a water resources-related field take the time to apply and take part in this fantastic program!”
- Daniel F., WIL Global 2020 Alumna
“WIL is a great way to learn how to take a more holistic approach to finding solutions to complex water challenges. I feel that by attending WIL I have learned skills to facilitate discussions on subjects of water challenges in addition to expanding my network of peers in the water sector.
- Jared W., WIL Canada 2019 Alumna
“It was such an amazing experience! I have never seen such an organised program that seeks to develop intellectual and entrepreneurial capabilities for youth while searching for innovative water solutions that benefits our society. WIL Lebanon made me a better researcher, problem solver, public speaker and critical thinker. Thankful for this life changing opportunity.”
- Fatima Zbib, WIL Lebanon 2020 Alumna
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WIL GREAT LAKES
Resource Guests
More amazing guests will be added soon

Will Kitchen
risk taker, innovator, entrepreneur, and doer

Will Kitchen
risk taker, innovator, entrepreneur, and doer
“The only source of knowledge is experience.” Albert Einstein
My life reflects this quote. While living in different cultures (US, India, Europe, or China) I have collected new experiences, adventures, and friends. I continue to learn and live a life of curiosity. This curiosity has led me to be engaged in numerous careers (teaching, sales, entrepreneur, consultant, librarian, lobbyist, business development specialist, and radio station owner to name a few). So, I hope I have gathered a lot of “knowledge”!
Currently living in Traverse City, MI, I am involved in helping develop an entrepreneur ecosystem. I also serve as a mentern (mentor and intern) for a number of young people and entrepreneurs. Before this, I served as Director of Innovative Community Engagement and StartUp Winona State at Winona State University (MN) to support and develop young entrepreneurs.
Throughout my business career and community activities, I have developed a reputation as a risk taker, innovator, entrepreneur, and doer.
I hold a master’s degree in Education from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Psychology from the University of Maine - Orono.

Jennifer Szunko
Talent Attractor, Michigan's Creative Coast

Jennifer Szunko
Talent Attractor, Michigan's Creative Coast
After pitching innovative ideas at TCNewTech, Jennifer Szunko went on to serve as the Executive Director of TCNewTech from January 2020 until June 2022. Under her direction, the organization facilitated hundreds of connections between entrepreneurs and the resources needed to advance their ideas. She has a passion for entrepreneurs and has worked in a number of industries including hotel, cruise, wine, magazine, and book publishing. As a connector of people, she is constantly flipping through her mental Rolodex looking for ways to bring people together. She currently serves as a Northern Navigator for Traverse City's talent attraction initiative called Michigan's Creative Coast. In her free time you can find her enjoying the outdoors, hosting gatherings at home with her husband, or dreaming up new innovations.

Ann Ralston
President, Ralston Consulting Inc.

Ann Ralston
President, Ralston Consulting Inc.
For more than 25 years, Ann has helped founders, CEOs and boards build and lead thriving, purpose-driven businesses with extraordinary cultures. A business innovation coach serving startups, mid-market, Fortune 500 and social enterprise companies, Ann delivers innovation sprints and other engagements to clients, worldwide, including Siemens Energy, Digital Opportunity Trust, SelfDesign Learning Foundation (BC) and many more. She helps companies transform into Exponential Organizations by calming the corporate immune system and creating a culture of innovation to reinvent themselves for economic, social and environmental good. In her community, Ann is passionate about creating amazing, life-changing education opportunities for youth. She co-founded Central Ohio Robotics Initiative and is on the board of the PAST Foundation. An active Rotarian, Ann is also a past president for both Dublin A.M. Rotary and its Charitable Foundation. While Ann and her husband, Gary, moved to Suttons Bay on Lake Michigan just last year, she’s had a lifelong love affair with the lakes, dunes and natural areas in the region, visiting every year since she was 12. Ann is also a landowner and steward of 4.5 acres (1.8 ha) maple forest. When not helping companies be wildly successful, you can find her walking Good Harbor Bay, along the coast of Lake Michigan, with her English Labrador, Milo.

Aaron Jones
Fish & Wildlife Coordinator

Aaron Jones
Fish & Wildlife Coordinator
Aaron is a member of Ketegaunseebee/Garden River First Nation, he is also a land user, harvester, Natural Environment Technologist, and the Fish and Wildlife Coordinator for the Garden River First Nation Lands and Resources Department. Aaron has a deep connection to the local waters and is excited to participate in the 2022 Great Lakes Water Innovation Lab by sharing some history of the local waters and discussing Indigenous community engagement for water-related projects.

Francis L “Tex” Criqui
President of Francis Criqui & Associates

Francis L “Tex” Criqui
President of Francis Criqui & Associates
As President of Francis Criqui & Associates, LLC since its inception, Mr Criqui has successfully engaged with numerous entities and personalities, both private and public. Most recently, Mr Criqui was Managing Partner for Technology Highway L3C a company dedicated to providing solutions to the challenges of the business world.
Mr. Criqui has served as a Coach/Mentor/Judge for SAE-MITEF Automotive Innovation Competition, UM Clean Energy Venture Competition, GLEQ Business Plan Competition, and Macomb Incubator Business Advisory Council to name a few. He is also registered with the National Science Foundation’s Innovation Corps (NSF I-Corps) as mentor and instructor, providing guidance and advice to 200+ companies over the past 6 years.
This combination of public and private experience and expertise allows Mr Criqui to bring a unique perspective and an innovative approach to the solution of business challenges, a solution designed for the resolution of that specific challenge.
Areas of Expertise include: leadership, innovation, government liaison, strategic planning, team building, program management, problem solving, operations management, budgeting and controls, marketing and forecasting, mentoring, technology commercialization, business accelerator, start-ups and early stage companies, growth companies, economic gardening, technology development, intellectual asset management, information and data management, project management and controls, product development and launch.

Nick Beadleston
Sustainability Consultant

Nick Beadleston
Sustainability Consultant
My raison d'etre is to support those businesses and industries which are awakening to their incalculable potential for social good, and as a result, are pivoting toward service and sustainability as the new metrics of profitability.
Currently, I'm helping create a stronger, more ethical business community in Northern Michigan. I'm also helping create small, but growing, changes in global supply chains that produce goods and services we rely on.
Formerly, I served as the outreach director for On the Ground, a remarkable international development NGO which supports sustainable community development in coffee farming regions across the world, and fosters connections between coffee roasters and producers.

Elaine Ho-Tassone
Director of Operations, NORDIK Institute

Elaine Ho-Tassone
Director of Operations, NORDIK Institute
Dr. Elaine Ho-Tassone brings together people and organizations from across sectors, cultures, and disciplines in collaborative, community-based projects focused on fresh water. She brings more than 15 years of experience in social innovation and youth engagement. She earned her PhD in Social and Ecological Sustainability (Water) at University of Waterloo and has recently completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology at Algoma University. Elaine has spoken about fresh water on various news programs, including the CBC and CTV. In 2018, she participated in the United Nations High-Level Political Forum while co-authoring the Generation SDG Blueprint to guide Canada's implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. She has since held two terms on the Facilitation Committee for international Action for Sustainable Development - first representing global women, and second as the representative for Canada. Elaine also owns and operates TRIECO Research and Consulting.

Dr. Erik Emilson
Research Scientist

Dr. Erik Emilson
Research Scientist
Dr. Erik Emilson is a Research Scientist and lead of the Watershed Ecology Team at Natural Resources Canada’s Great Lakes Forestry Centre (GLFC) in Sault Ste. Marie. His group studies how aquatic ecosystem functions and services are influenced by watershed-scale processes, and how forest disturbances and land management decisions influence these process. He co-manages molecular ecology and water chemistry labs at GLFC, and his work integrates fine-scale microbial and molecular processes across spatial and temporal scales, to inform land-based resource management and policies to mitigate and avoid impacts on freshwater resources.

Brittany VanderBeek
Sustainability Consultant

Brittany VanderBeek
Sustainability Consultant
Brittany is a Michigan native who grew up vacationing on Lake Michigan. After years of carrying a Petoskey stone everywhere she lived, Brittany followed her dream to move to Traverse City in 2020. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan Ross School of Business BBA and Spanish Program and the University of South Carolina Moore School of Business International MBA and French Program.
Brittany has spent her career championing business as a force for good in the community, working in sustainability consulting at BrownFlynn (now ERM), completing a cross-functional global leadership program at Michelin, and building the impact program at Hagerty, including corporate giving, employee volunteerism, and ESG initiatives. Most recently, she has developed and facilitated Design Thinking for Social Impact workshops at 20Fathoms and Northwestern Michigan College, and is passionate about creating cross-sector partnerships that foster innovation to drive community impact. She serves on the Grand Traverse Bay Watershed Center Board and is an active member of 20Fathoms, Traverse City Track Club, and Traverse Connect Young Professionals. You will find her near water almost every day year-round, whether trail running, dune hiking, cross country skiing, snowshoeing, paddle boarding, kayaking, or admiring the sunset.

Chuck Meek
Managing Director, Solve for X, L3C

Chuck Meek
Managing Director, Solve for X, L3C
Chuck Meek is the Managing Director of Solve for X, L3C, a Research & Development platform specifically designed to align and coordinate Philanthropic, Private Capital, Academic, and Industrial enterprises to fund and execute cutting edge R&D projects.
In the SolvePFAS Projects, the vested interests fund and conduct applied scientific research to detect, track, measure, contain, isolate, and destroy Per/PolyFluoroAlkyl Substances (PFAS, the so-called ‘Forever Chemicals’) in fresh water ecosystems, municipal supplies, healthcare campuses, educational campuses, and industrial/commercial/residential facilities.
He is also an Industry Advisor at The University of Chicago – Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering. His role there is to mentor post-graduate researchers and post-doctorate scientists, helping them reframe their esoteric theses and dissertations in terms and language of private capital and industry audiences.
He has led collaborative contract research initiatives on multiple topics, including:
- Economic Impacts of Emerging Contaminants on Industry - Case Study in Environmental Insurance
- Economic Impacts of Emerging Contaminants on Brownfield Real Estate Redevelopment
- Economic Impacts of Emerging Contaminants on Municipal Bio-Solids Disposal Models
- A Method for Scalable Contaminated Water Purification System using Electrophysics, Integrated Ionization & Magnetic Separation
- A Method for Rapid In-situ PFAS Detection/Measurement and Data Diagnostics Using GC/MS

Theresa Smith
CTO of OLA Filter

Theresa Smith
CTO of OLA Filter
Theresa is a co-founder and the CTO of OLA Filter - a social business based in Guatemala and the US that produces a compact and affordable household water filter. The OLA Filter attaches directly to the threaded taps common across the world and offers reliable, secure and sustainable at-home filtration for families unable to safely drink their tap water.
Prior to joining Ola Filter, Theresa was a principal engineer with Toyota Motor North America. She has 7 years of experience in vehicle design and 13 years in prototype development. Theresa has an in-depth understanding of the Toyota Way of Continuous Improvement and Respect for People; she is certified in the Toyota Business Practice method of problem solving, and has 20 years of on-the-job industry experience in project management and supplier relations. Theresa has a B.S.E in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan.

Bill Palladino
Senior Leadership Consultant

Bill Palladino
Senior Leadership Consultant
Bill is a former broadcast journalist who started consulting with businesses and nonprofit organizations over thirty years ago. He is best known in Michigan for his decades of work in economic development, entrepreneurship, agri-business, and the non-motorized transportation community. Bill served as economic development director for the Northwest Michigan Council of Governments (now Networks Northwest), as regional director of the Michigan Small Business and Technology Development Centers, and as CEO of Taste the Local Difference, a food and farming marketing firm which he helped found.
This unique background gives Bill a hunger to explore and discover new ideas that can ultimately help his clients build a better world through their work.
Today, his core practices focus on the science of positive psychology, innovation, change management, business ethics, and organizational values. The bulk of his work over the past few years has been in partnership with Harvard researcher and NY Times best-selling author on happiness, Shawn Achor. This work with Shawn Achor’s The Happiness Advantage program has placed Bill in leadership positions with positive psychology initiatives for school systems, communities, corporations, and hospitals. In September 2021, his long-time client, Genesis Health System in Davenport, Iowa won the Association for Talent Development’s (ATD’s) 2021 Excellence in Practice Award and was a featured case study in Harvard Business Review in 2020, “What Leading With Optimism Really Looks Like”.
He has also played a key role in developing workshops and coaching for John Kotter (Leading Change), Chris Trimble (The Other Side of Innovation), and Joel Barker (Paradigms: The Business of Discovering the Future.) This varied work takes Bill across the US and around the world. His clients include Fortune 500 companies, school districts, nonprofit organizations, and municipalities.
Bill hails from The Bronx in New York City but has spent the past four decades in the Midwest starting with his alma mater, North Dakota State University in Fargo, then to Minneapolis where he worked for Minnesota Public Radio, and ten years on Beaver Island in northern Lake Michigan where his business, Krios Consulting, was born. He currently has an office at 20Fathoms in Traverse City and lives in Kingsley, Michigan.

Sue Roppel
Independent Advisor

Sue Roppel
Independent Advisor
Sue Roppel has spent the past 10+ years working to support Canadian innovation through positions at Simon Fraser University, MITACS (a global leader for cross-sectoral research innovation), and IC-IMPACTS – the first and only International Research Centre of Excellence established by the Canadian Federal Government. Throughout her career she has focused on creating unique global innovation programs, and immersive experiential programming. As COO as IC-IMPACTS (2012-2017) she developed extensive partnership across Canada and India in the areas of water, sustainable infrastructure, and health. She has a passion for creating community-centric knowledge sharing and frugal technology implementation. In addition to continuing an active consulting practice in international program development, Sue Sue has, since 2017, run a modest charitable foundation premised on supporting student experiential learning, climate change knowledge building and solution making (by students and teachers), and community-impacting initiatives for libraries in small communities. She has worked with Waterlution over the past decade, helping to build strategy and innovative programming, and is extremely excited to be able to work with WIL-Great Lakes program participants to support their next steps as water imagineers and waterpreneurs.

Al Everett
SCORE Certified Mentor

Al Everett
SCORE Certified Mentor
As someone who has launched and managed new start up companies in a variety of business sectors ranging from large to small, construction to technology …. I have been coaching and mentoring clients on the principles of building businesses based on their “why” and asking the question …. “What problem are they solving?”

Mollie Everett
SCORE Certified Mentor

Mollie Everett
SCORE Certified Mentor
Mollie has led marketing teams in several different industries, ranging from healthcare organizations to a Chamber of Commerce to a commercial office furniture manufacturer. Her strength is in helping people and companies focus on what they are trying to achieve, and then developing and implementing marketing strategies that help companies and organizations move from idea to success. She has played key roles in several product and service launches.

Jay Meldrum
Director of the Keweenaw Research Center

Jay Meldrum
Director of the Keweenaw Research Center
Jay is the Director of the Keweenaw Research Center (KRC) at Michigan Tech and Liaison to the Grand Traverse Area of Michigan. Michigan Tech is a leading public research university, home to more than 7,000 students from 54 countries around the world. Jay has a BSME degree from General Motors Institute (now Kettering University) and a MSME degree from the University of Michigan. KRC is a soft money research institute funded by contracts with the US Military and Automotive Industry. Testing on KRC’s 900 acre all-season proving ground by these customers includes mobility over snowy and rough terrains for the Military as well as traction control and stability control technologies for the Automotive Industry. During Jay’s 25 years at Michigan Tech he has also been the Director of Sustainability, Faculty Advisor for the Alternative Energy Enterprise class, and Advisor to the Sustainability Demonstration House project. Jay who continues as director of KRC, relocated to the Traverse City area to help further collaboration in five areas of mutual interest: K-12/pre-college engagement, higher education, industry development, economic development and community development.

Greg Terell
Founder and the CEO of LooUQ

Greg Terell
Founder and the CEO of LooUQ
Greg is founder and the CEO of LooUQ – a Traverse City based company that designs, manufactures, and operates wireless communications and cloud networks to facilitate remote sensing and remote device control. LooUQ’s wireless technology operates in both the licensed cellular and unlicensed radio spectrums.
Prior to LooUQ, Greg was an information technology professional for over 30 years in small and medium size companies located in the US Midwest. Serving in various roles from sales engineering, delivery lead, Directory of Technology Services and CTO. Through his career, the topics of communications, software, and process engineering were recurring areas of focus for Greg. More recently in his corporate career, Greg concentrated on data acquisition, system integration, and transformation of data into information.
Greg as always had a passion for the outdoors and doing good for the planet, particularly when it comes to water. As an Open-Water SCUBA instructor he has witnessed first-hand the sensitive nature of our water ecosystems and appreciates the unique interdependencies between water and life in our world. He has established practices at LooUQ to lower its impact on the planet and always seeks out customer opportunities using remote sensing/control as tools to help reduce, reuse, or recycle.

Laura Rutkowski
Writer, Editor, Instructional Designer

Laura Rutkowski
Writer, Editor, Instructional Designer
Laura has been in the corporate training space for over 30 years. Her experience includes managing training departments, leading instructional design teams, and creating many learning solutions including web-based courses, instructor-led sessions, and conference events.
Currently Laura is self-employed, creating learning solutions for Ford, Toyota, and Stellantis (formerly FCA Chrysler).
Laura is ready to assist you with any of your writing challenges, from proposals to procedures to marketing initiatives. She can also serve as a coach should you need to prepare for an important presentation.

Russell Schindler
CEO/Geologist/Founder

Russell Schindler
CEO/Geologist/Founder
Russell Schindler is a serial entrepreneur. His most recent start-up is SampleServe, Inc. a company specializing environmental data automation and environmental reporting.
Russell is a Certified Professional Geologist and a graduate of Western Michigan University in 1987. He holds 7 patents related to groundwater clean-up and environmental sampling.
Russell is also the founder of a monthly technology meetup group in Traverse City MI called TCNewTech. TCNewTech is an organization that promotes technology entrepreneurship and tries to match technology start-up founders with investors.
Russell is also an avid sailor and has completed 15 Chicago to Mackinac races and 7 Port Huron to Mackinac races.

Bradley Matson
Program Manager of Venture Acceleration, Conquer Accelerator

Bradley Matson
Program Manager of Venture Acceleration, Conquer Accelerator
Bradley is a Traverse City native with over 15 years of entrepreneurship experience across North America. Building-up startup ecosystems is at the core of Bradley’s work beginning with the group Startup Tucson and City Recess, a technology startup in Arizona. For the last few years Bradley has worked in the Seattle, WA area as a startup mentor for WeWork Labs and the Maritime Blue Accelerator Program before returning to Michigan in 2020 to work with Northern Michigan Angels. Bradley recently joined Conquer Accelerator as Program Manager of Venture Acceleration and is looking forward to continuing the great work of Spartan Innovations for the benefit of the state’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, founders and investors.
WIL Great Lakes 2022 Team

Karen Kun
President & Founder, Waterlution

Karen Kun
President & Founder, Waterlution
Karen Kun is the Founder and President of Waterlution, and co-founder of Greatness – The Great Lakes Project. She credits her time two decades ago living among Indigenous communities in Latin America as the inspiration behind applying water as a metaphor for everything essential in caring for and preserving ourselves and our planet. Seventeen years later, Karen continues to incorporate the practice of storytelling, building personal connections, peer-to-peer social engagement, and empathy as the fundamental tools in creating meaningful water dialogue. She is well known for her motto, which is to simply show up. Showing up has given Karen the opportunity to develop unexpected partnerships and to experiment with a variety of viewpoints and approaches. As a woman, mother, entrepreneur, risk-taker, mentor and Waterlution’s leader, Karen proudly supports all aspects of youth development. Growing the development of future global water leaders with the necessary tools to approach complex water issues has become a monumental aspect of Waterlution’s ongoing work and driver for change. Along with her water background, she is a skilled business leader who from 2005-2012 was publisher of Corporate Knights magazine.
- Email:karen@waterlution.org

Ed Bailey
Director of Operations, Marine Center
Ed Bailey is the director of Operations and Business development for the Marine Center at Northwestern Michigan College.
Northwestern Michigan College provides comprehensive Geospatial Applications training solutions for the marine, surveying and remote sensing industries. He has extensive background in project management, program and portfolio development and operations.
Ed has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan State University and aMasters in Science in Project Management from the University of Wisconsin –Platteville.

Megan Cornall
WIL Coordinator

Megan Cornall
WIL Coordinator
Megan has a passion for facilitating spaces for innovation, mentorship, networking and collaboration between young leaders and entrepreneurs in the water space. Megan began with Waterlution in 2019 at WIL Canada, then went on to coordinate WIL Global 2020 with 15 virtual interactive skills and capacity building workshops sessions over 5 months for 80 participants. For two years, she has led skills training for AquaHacking challenge Expedition, training Canadian entrepreneurs on 21st century skills on water innovations. Most recently, Megan led the evaluation process on testing a new innovative approach focused on adolescent girl empowerment through capacity building and water innovation in Northern Mozambique. Megan enjoys developing water-centric programming that bring people together across sectors, and creating space to break down and address complex problems.

Dawn Fleming
Innovation Lead

Dawn Fleming
Innovation Lead
Dawn leads innovation across Waterlution and currently leads partnerships, entrepreneurship mentoring and network building for Waterlution’s programmes in Brazil and Mozambique. An advocate for advancing female leadership in the water space, she is committed to creating opportunities for women and girls to realise their collaborative innovation ideas. Under Dawn's leadership 80% of all seed funds directed to projects in the 5 years of WIL Brasil have been to support the advancement of female-led water solutions. Recently, Dawn developed a new innovation testing approach through the Government of Canada FIT funded project “Adolescent Girl Empowerment through Capacity Building and Water Innovation in Northern Mozambique”. She has worked with Waterlution since 2010, in Canada, Portugal, Brazil and Mozambique and in 2021 was instrumental in launching the newly created water and sanitation accelerator programme “Waterlution BRK Acelera”. Dawn brings 20 years of experience as a facilitator, project manager, performer, director and designer of learning experiences to her work with Waterlution.
- Email:dawn@waterlution.org

Stephanie Pheasant-Recollet
Indigenous Relations Coordinator

Stephanie Pheasant-Recollet
Indigenous Relations Coordinator
Stephanie is a First Nations student, artist and mother from Wiikwemkoong, Mnidoo Mnising (Wikwemikong, Manitoulin Island); home of the world’s largest freshwater island. She is enrolled at Laurentian University’ Indigenous Studies program and when finished she plans to move onto an Indigenous Education program, to assist in the healing process between Canada and the First Nations People of Turtle Island. During downtime, Stephanie joined Waterlution by volunteering on the Youth Advisory Board in 2019/2020. Stephanie is focused on her family, she and her husband, are highly motivated in teaching their young daughter more about their Anishinaabe culture: ceremony, language, art, foods, etc.

Chris McLeod
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Chris McLeod
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Christopher McLeod is a multidisciplinary social practice artist, educator and researcher. He has a BA in Studio Art from McMaster University and an MFA from Emily Carr University in Vancouver, BC. His work has been featured at Nuit Blanche Toronto, the Art Gallery of Hamilton, and at Supercrawl 2018 and 2019. He has taught at McMaster University, Dundas Valley School of Art, and was Artist in Residence for 2 years at the Art Gallery of Mississauga. He joined Waterlution as the Project Lead for the Great Art for Great Lakes project commissioning artists and artists teams on 17 participatory based public art projects. As the Artistic Director for ART+WTR, Waterlution, Christopher investigates community engagement through art as a way of knowing, problem solving, healing and transforming our relationship with water.
FAQs
We encourage you to apply! Tell us about how you’ve been engaged with this topic, and the reviewers will see if you have the right background to be included. This is a young professionals space, and if you really feel you want to be there, put your best effort in. Diversity of experiences adds richness to the WIL program and we encourage applicants that have unique backgrounds.
WIL Great Lakes is open to people working, living, and studying in Canada or the USA, specifically those who work extensively in the Great Lakes region. Unfortunately, we cannot accept global applicants, but sign up for our newsletter and/or follow our social channels as we do host global WILs!
Yes, participants who complete the program will be eligible for a certificate.
Please set aside 1-3 hours throughout the summer for mentorship meetings.
The in-person gathering is an immersive 4 day program with evening activities which are part of the networking. There will be wifi to check email and stay in touch, but the less work you can do during that week the better. This is a professional experience and you will get the most by being as present as possible!
Beyond the WIL programming there will be opportunities to advance innovation projects, with work schedules created by each project group.
Yes, sessions will be recorded for you to review afterwards if you are unable to make a session. We strongly encourage you to attend all sessions, as they are collaborative and interactive, and you will get the most learning by being present!
At Waterlution, speakers and experts are usually referred to as Resource Guests, where the role is to elevate the knowledge and skills of the young professionals participating. If you think you have a strong set of skills to contribute, please email megan.cornall@waterlution.org with your background and she will be in touch.
As a general approach, Waterlution does vegetarian as the base, sometimes adding animal proteins and dairy to fit a variety of people. We do our best to accommodate vegan diets and allergies and would work with you on a case-by-case basis. Participants will be sent a form where those details will be included.
It is our sincere hope that the in-person portion will proceed as planned. The number of people attending has already been adapted to a lower number as a covid consideration. However if something happens beyond our control, we will revisit whether it will happen in person. (But our fingers and toes are crossed!)
Our strong preference is that people can stay the whole time; however, we understand that there can be exceptions and there is space for this included in your application form. It will be taken into consideration.
QUESTIONS ABOUT WIL Great Lakes?
Megan Cornall