Speakers

Warren Brown is an Operations and Maintenance Manager for Lytton First Nation. Lytton is located in British Columbia (BC), roughly 4 hours north of Vancouver. He currently manages a crew of 10 staff members, Band Buildings, 30+ km of roads and 12 Water Systems.
Warren served the BC Ambulance Service as an active Paramedic for 16 years. In 2010, he was part of the first “all First Nations” cohort to obtain a diploma in Water Treatment Technology from Thompson Rivers University in 2010. He received recognition for being the Top Student during the fourth year of the program.
In 2021, Warren worked through the Lytton fire that consumed about 90% of the town,  and again in 2022, when a fire broke out on the West side of Lytton, consuming 6 more Band homes. As part of a four-person team, he kept the local water systems operational without power using generators and gravity.

Awards and Nominations: 

• EOCP Water Operator of the Year (2018)
• Water Canada, Water Operator and Water Steward of the year (2021)
• Nominee for National First Nation Water Leadership Award (2022)

Hobbies: Past BMX racing champion and avid Lego Collector.

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Paola Gordon Luna is a natural resources management specialist with more than ten years of experience collaborating with national and international organizations in the formulation, planning, execution, monitoring, and evaluation of projects on issues related to integrated management of water resources, water footprint, innovation, adaptation to climate change, and technical and operational strengthening of water, sanitation, and solid waste services providers. Currently, she coordinates the Research and Development Network of the Water and Sanitation Observatory for Latin America and the Caribbean.

At the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), she provided technical assistance, training, and support with financing mechanisms to governments seeking to increase the efficiency of drinking water provision, improve sanitation and solid waste services, develop integrity and transparency assessments, and design strategies for the conservation of watersheds and the reduction of food waste. Previously, she was responsible for coordinating the Water Network for Latin America and the Caribbean at the Tecnológico de Monterrey and the National Water Prize for the Stockholm Junior Water Prize. She has also collaborated with USAID, the World Bank, and the National Development Foundation in projects related to innovation and capacity strengthening of public and civil society institutions in the water sector and citizen participation.

Ms. Gordon holds a bachelor’s degree in Microbiology from the University of Panama, a Master of Science in Natural Resource Management with a specialization in Integrated Watershed Management from the University of Guadalajara, and a Professional Certificate in Project Management from the University of Utah. She is the author of the massive online course “Water Footprint: a comprehensive look at the use of water” at the Tecnológico de Monterrey, which has registered more than seven thousand enrolments. In 2022 she was recognized as a leading opinion columnist for the Ibero-American Scientific and Cultural News. Also, she has been awarded multiple recognitions throughout her academic and professional career, including the 2019 MujerTec award in the Transformative Power category and the 2003 Violet Richardson award for Leading Women in the Americas.

Andrea Clough, The Engineer Whisperer transforms great engineers into impactful human beings. She specializes in helping individuals and groups with their career transitions, e.g. from graduate to new employee, employee into management (all levels), and from corporate leadership into entrepreneurships. After a successful corporate career at Microsoft and Boeing and over 10 years of well-respected expertise and experience in Finance, HR, Project Management, Strategic Integration, Business Operations, Marketing and Procurement, Andrea is the founder of Xplor To Xpand and the creator of the program (Re)Engineer Your Life, a 52-week program to discover the life you want to live and how to choose to live it. Andrea is also the host of The Engineer Whisperer Podcast and hosts monthly Idea Parties. Her work includes corporate events (leadership workshops, All-Team offsites, Team Idea Parties), conference activities (speaking, group coaching, roundtable sessions) and both executive and 1:1 coaching. Andrea is currently writing her first book titled 52 Weeks, How I Re-engineered My Life. Andrea believes the collective work of engineers creates the biggest impact in the world. Thus, engineers help us be alive, feel alive and live life to the fullest. Her motto is Choose To Live Life Differently.

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Javier Canto currently works as a full-time professor at the Autonomous University of Yucatán (UADY), impart subjects at the Anahuac Mayab University and the Technological Institute of Oil and Energy, he also works as an independent hydraulic design consultor focused on urban hydraulic and hydrology, computational fluid dynamics, and dam design. He obtained his bachelor’s at UADY and his Master’s and Ph.D. at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), working with the hydraulic behaviour in electrocoagulation reactors. He is currently serving as the Chair for IWA YWP Mexico and is one of the founding members of the YWP México group.