Our inter-disciplinary team brings a range of specialized skills and experience to the Community Water Solutions organization. The team is led by former management consulting professionals, holding graduate degrees from Massachusetts Institute of Technology specializing in Household Water Treatment and Safe Water Storage (HWTS) in the developing world, as well as engineering and business degrees from MIT, Dartmouth, Harvard, and the University of Virginia. Over half of the team has previous field experience implementing water health projects in other Sub-Saharan countries of Africa as well as Latin America.
Kate Clopeck is the Executive Director for Community Water Solutions. Over the past 5 years, Kate has worked extensively on water improvement projects around the globe including Nicaragua, Cameroon and Ghana. She earned a Master's of Science in Technology and Policy from MIT in 2009 where her research was focused on the sustained use of water treatment technologies in Northern Region Ghana. She holds Bachelor's in Science from the University of Virginia's School of Engineering and Applied Science where she wrote her thesis on the implementation household water treatment and safe storage technologies in the developing world. As Community Water Solutions' first full-time employee, Kate currently splits her time between Ghana and her hometown of Boston, MA.
Vanessa Green is the CEO of OnChip Power. She has a MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management. She also completed a Masters Environmental Engineering at MIT in 2008 where she focused her academic work on household water treatment and safe storage technologies for the developing world. During her time at MIT, Vanessa conducted her thesis research in northern Ghana which inspired her to co-found CWS to address Ghana’s urgent need for sustainable, scalable safe water solutions. Vanessa also brings a background in management consulting from her time with Monitor Group, where she focused on regional economic development, operational efficiency and marketing strategy. Vanessa holds a Bachelor’s in Environmental Science from Dartmouth College. In her spare time, Vanessa enjoys soccer, running and sailing.
Chuck Howe is an Associate Director and Partner at the Center for Innovation, Excellence and Leadership (IXL Center) where he is responsible for project integration, advisory and client management. He also serves as an instruction and facilitator of IXL's Innovation and Growth courses and workshops. Prior to joining IXL, Chuck served as a consultant to Liberty Mutual, the global insurance conglomerate, and to other clients in the pharmaceutical, professional services, and renewable energy industries. Chuck also served as a senior project leader at the Monitor Group, a global strategy consulting firm where he was responsible for developing long-term strategies to enhance the innovation capacity of regional and national economies in North America, Europe, and the Middle East. Chuck has served as an advisor to a number of community-based development initiatives around the world, including a date farming collective in Saudi Arabia and preventive healthcare outreach to medically underserved families in the USA. Chuck is a native of Boston, MA. He studied History at Harvard College.
Through our work on the ground in Ghana, we have built relationships with Ghanaian partners that have helped us engage with communities, bridge the language gap and establish a local network. This established network has been crucial in facilitating each step of the project implementation process and provides continuity throughout the year. Such local partners are essential to project sustainability in the developing world and represent an equally valuable component of our Community Water Solutions team.
In Ghana, we have received guidance and support from several organizations who share our motivation to address the problem of water health in developing countries. We think of these people and these organizations as an extension of our team:Public Service Center at MIT, Pure Home Water, UNICEF, the Carter Center, PATH, International Aid, the Center for Disease Control.
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