ACWA 2025 FALL CONFERENCE & EXPO
Session Speakers
Wednesday on the Main Stage
WELCOME KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Dave Puglia
President and CEO, Western Growers
Dave Puglia was selected President and CEO of Western Growers in 2019. Since joining the organization in 2005, he has focused on leading public policy initiatives affecting the agriculture industry in California and other western states.
Puglia has been at the forefront of major legislative and regulatory issues involving water supply, water quality, energy, air quality and labor. His work has included negotiating statewide water bond provisions to enhance storage capacity, advocating for a comprehensive safe drinking water solution in partnership with environmental justice leaders, and negotiating the nation’s first state regulatory standard for prevention of heat illness in agricultural settings.
Before joining Western Growers, Puglia served for seven years in the California Attorney General’s Office, first as Press Secretary and then as Director of Public Affairs and Communications. He has also worked as a public affairs consultant to numerous corporations and industry groups in addition to serving in senior roles on several statewide political campaigns.
Puglia is currently a member of the board of directors of the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) and serves as chair of PPIC’s Water Policy Center Advisory Council. He is a member of the federal Agricultural Policy Advisory Committee for Trade and has served on several other industry-related boards and advisory councils.
A Sacramento native, Puglia earned a bachelor’s degree in Government-Journalism from Sacramento State University and resides with his wife Lezlie in Orange County, California.
WATER TALK SPEAKER
Gigi Karmous-Edwards
CEO, Karmous-Edwards Consulting
Co-Principal Investigator, Water Research Foundation's project, "The Role of Generative AI for the Global Water Sector"
Over the course of more than 25 years, Gigi Karmous-Edwards has worked in various domains of digital technologies, spanning the Data Communications industry, Academia, and most recently, dedicating the last 13 years to the Water Sector. Gigi is the technical lead and Co-PI of a GenAI WRF #5321 (GenAI for the Global Water Sector) project. Gigi is the founder and former chair of the SWAN Digital Twin H2O Work Group, leads AI market insights at BlueTech Research as a Technology Advisor Group (TAG) member, and serves on the Advisory Boards of Veralto and Qatium.
Gigi has authored over 40 publications and frequently speaks at global conferences. As the CEO of Karmous-Edwards Consulting, she advises global utilities and technology companies on digital transformation and GenAI. B.S. in Chemical Eng and M.S. Electrical Eng.
CLOSING KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Letitia Grenier
Director, PPIC Water Policy Center Senior Fellow
Letitia Grenier is director of the PPIC Water Policy Center, where she is also a senior fellow and holds the Ellen Hanak Chair in Water Policy. She previously directed the Resilient Landscapes Program of the San Francisco Estuary Institute, where she served as a resource for local and national media; advised government and agency staff; and worked with partners to conserve California’s living resources by developing landscape-scale, collaborative, science-based visions and solutions. She was also the 2020 PPIC CalTrout Ecosystem Fellow and an adjunct fellow with the PPIC Water Policy Center. Throughout her career, she has worked as a proponent and leader of science-based management. In 2019 and 2015, she served as the science lead for the State of the Estuary Report, and she was also the science lead for the 2015 update to the Baylands Ecosystem Habitat Goals, heading a team of over 200 environmental scientists, managers, and regulators to develop recommendations for restoring and maintaining the health of the Bay’s tidal wetlands in the face of rising sea levels and other stressors. She completed her PhD at University of California, Berkeley, where her research concentrated on the ecology of the Bay-Delta estuary system.
Program Session Speakers
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