Plenary Speakers

Marion Colonerus is Principal Manager at the European Court of Auditors. The European Court of Auditors (ECA) is the EU institution for auditing the EU’s finances. The ECA warns of risks, provides assurance and offers guidance to EU policymakers on how to improve the management of public finances and ensure that Europe’s citizens know how their money is being spent. Until recently Marion worked in a Unit responsible inter alia for auditing EU expenditure in the field of environment. She has been working in particular on two reports regarding at water quality aspects in four countries in the Danube river basin. The ECA published these reports in 2015 and early 2016.

Mark Maimone, Ph.D., P.E., BCEE, D.WRE
Dr. Maimone is a senior water resource management specialist with over 50 publications. He has a Bachelors Degree in Civil Engineering and a Masters Degree in Environmental Planning from the University of Technology in Delft, The Netherlands, and a PhD in Water Resources Planning from the University of Groningen, The Netherlands. He has experience in groundwater and surface water studies; source water protection and stormwater studies; water quality studies; wetlands remediation; and mathematical modeling of ground and surface water. He has led major water resource planning studies in Georgia, Chester County and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as well as directed the decision process for the NYC Water Supply Dependability Study.
Dr. Maimone has been a working with the Philadelphia Water
Department for almost a decade to develop and implement a combined sewer
overflow program that relies primarily on the use of decentralized, green stormwater
infrastructure. This program is unprecedented in scale, and his contributions
have ranged from integrated watershed planning, green infrastructure design,
program management, triple bottom line assessments, and impact analysis.
Dr. Maimone has been responsible for the development,
calibration, and validation of numerous groundwater flow and salt water
intrusion models both in the US, Europe, and the Middle East, and has designed
data management systems for water resource planning. He has led award-winning
source water protection programs and integrated water resource management
studies. He developed stream and wetland mitigation programs, groundwater and
watershed management programs, and has also directed numerous hazardous waste
site investigations, feasibility studies, and remedial design of soil and water
contamination.
Dr. Maimone is also a decision science expert. He has also
used decision analysis techniques to help numerous clients select the highest
priority watersheds for watershed plan implementation and stream restoration
activities, and identify the preferred wastewater treatment technology and
residual management technology.
Karin Lexén
Karin Lexén is Director for World Water
Week, International Policy and Prizes at SIWI. She leads SIWI’s engagement on
international policy, such as the UN’s development goals and the global climate
policy processes, driving SIWI’s advocacy of water issues in the international
environmental politics arena.
A Swedish national, Karin has 30 years of experience in international environmental and development politics. She studied and researched environmental chemistry at Stockholm University and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, and speaks both English and Swedish.
Karin joined SIWI in 2007, and until 2012, was Director of SIWI’s Swedish Water House (SWH) – a neutral platform for Swedish actors engaging in international water issues.Prior to joining SIWI Karin worked, among other positions with the Swedish Ministry for the Environment and as the International Policy Director at the Church of Sweden.

John H. Matthews

William Sarni