SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The New York Water Environment Association, Inc. (NYWEA) announced it has selected Khristopher A. Dodson as its next executive director.
Dodson will succeed Patricia Cerro-Reehil, current NYWEA executive director, upon her retirement in June. She has held the top job since 2000 and worked for the association since 1987.
Dodson has been serving as an officer to the NYWEA board of directors since 2019, and most recently as board president, from February 2022 to February 2023. He previously chaired the public outreach committee, and since 2011, has served on several committees and the green infrastructure and public engagement task forces for NYWEA, the association said.
Dodson has worked for the Environmental Finance Center at Syracuse University since March 2008, most recently as the director of water resilience initiatives. He previously worked as associate director and communications and program manager at the Environmental Finance Center. He also has worked as a project staff associate at the Great Lakes Research Consortium and as a consultant to the Atlantic States Legal Foundation and Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University.
Dodson’s experience as a teacher and college instructor aligns well with the educational mission of NYWEA, the association contends. He has been a visiting instructor for the Department of Environmental Studies at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF) since 2006. He has taught classes in introductory writing, computer applications, business and sustainability, environmental communications, and environmental journalism. Dodson also teaches an interdisciplinary class on infrastructure and society for the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Syracuse University.
Dodson earned dual master’s degrees — a master of professional studies in environmental communication from SUNY-ESF and a master of arts in magazine, newspaper and online journalism from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. He also holds a bachelor’s dual degree, majoring in environmental studies and English, with a minor in cultural anthropology from Binghamton University.
Headquartered in Syracuse, the NYWEA has seven regional chapters, 15 college student chapters, and is a member association of the international Water Environment Federation. Founded in 1929 as a nonprofit educational organization by professionals in the field of water quality, NYWEA has 2,500 members statewide. It hosts several technical conferences annually for environmental engineers, scientists, water-resource recovery operators, public officials, and others who work in water-quality management and water-resource recovery.
