Ava Cares is the Municipal Utilities Operation and Maintenance Manager for the City of Galveston, with four years of experience in the water/wastewater utility industry. She oversees water distribution, wastewater collection, and stormwater drainage operations, with a strong focus on proactive maintenance. Ava utilizes advanced technologies—including pressure recorders, water quality monitoring devices, smart meters, and lift station remote monitoring systems—to fine-tune utility performance and optimize system reliability. Committed to data-driven solutions and operational efficiency, Ava plays a key role in advancing the City of Galveston’s infrastructure through innovative utility management.

Frank Eskridge is the Director of Utility Operations for Columbia Water in Columbia, S.C. Frank’s duties involve managing the Water Treatment, Water Distribution, Wastewater Collection, Wastewater Treatment, Water Compliance, and Wastewater Compliance processes for Columbia Water’s customer base of 155,000 accounts. He is a Civil Engineering graduate of Clemson University from a period of time that was after the slide rule but before the laptop computer and is a registered Professional Engineering in both South Carolina and Alabama.

Frank has been with Columbia Water for approximately 4 years but has 34 additional years of utility management experience in South Carolina and Alabama.

Frank duties at Columbia Water have also included Meter Reading, which has been transformed in Columbia with the Advanced Metering Infrastructure project that occurred between March of 2019 and September of 2022.

Rick Wahlen is the Utility Operations Manager for the City of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, a suburb of the Minneapolis-St Paul metropolitan area. Rick’s water, wastewater, and stormwater utility spans 36 square miles and serves a community of 64,000 residents. Rick manages a 28 million-gallon-per-day lime softening water treatment plant, a 400 mile water distribution and wastewater collection system serving 20,000 Badger Meter connections with 27% Eye on Water Participation.  His nearly 300 miles of stormwater conveyance includes over 900 stormwater NERP ponds which double as backyard hockey rinks in the winter and crappie holes in the summer – a situation that adds whole ‘nuther’ layer of social coordination for pond maintenance. Rick has been on the Engage advisory board since 2024. 

Daryl Williamson is the CEO of Limestone County Water and Sewer Authority in Athens, AL. Daryl’s system has two water treatment plants, 1,300 miles of distribution piping, and several small decentralized sewer plants.  He received an MBA from Middle Tennessee State University. Daryl’s utility career began in the electric industry before transitioning to water and wastewater. While working in the electric sector, Daryl participated in various AMI deployments, from 100% remote disconnect meters to pre-paid customer projects. Daryl led the charge in bringing a host of Blue Edge products, including meters, MetriNet, pipe::scan, and pipeminder, to Limestone. 

Charle Wright has been with Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) for 23 years and has 31 years of utility experience in areas of engineering, account management, conservation, new product and services, meter data management, and electric and water metering. He is currently the Manager of Metering and Field Operations for water. He was directly involved with OUC’s the first full electric and water AMI deployment that was completed in 2014. He is currently involved with the next generation AMI water deployment which began in January of 2023 and is expected to be completed by December of 2025 using the Badger Orion Cellular solution and Badger model 25 and 55 meters.