Our Team
Judith Herschell Cole
Judith has 40 years of experience in water treatment and engineered systems. She is an entrepreneur, having founded Herschell Environmental in 2003. She has served in technical/engineering and commercial capacities at the executive level for large and small companies. She has extensive experience in business development, strategic planning, formulating and driving long-range strategies, introducing new products and services, executing marketing plans and designing small water and wastewater systems.
She holds degrees in Mechanical Engineering, Biology, and Psychology. Her graduate studies were in Biology. She believes deeply in giving back to the water treatment industry. Her volunteer activities include 26 years volunteering with the American Water Works Association and 17 years with the Marcellus Shale Coalition Research Collaborative. Other volunteer activities include, the Water Environment Federation and the American Membrane Technology Association.
Judith has contributed to many publications as feature article author, bi-monthly column author and technical reviewer for various publications and topics. She has served as a keynote speaker, workshop presenter, technical paper presenter, moderator, and seminar presenter at various national and regional professional events, symposia, and conferences.
Joe Zuback
Joe founded Global Water Advisors in 2009, steering the company to its current standing as a trusted global consultant for the water industry. Over a five decade career focused on R&D and commercialization of water technologies, he has cultivated extensive expertise in both water treatment and renewable energy technologies, and their effective applications and markets. Under GWA Joe focused on assisting water technology start-ups and investors by solving complex challenges, uncovering opportunities, and fostering innovation within the global water sector.
Joe’s water industry career includes serving as Chief Technology Officer at Siemens Water Technologies, Senior Vice President at USFilter (later Veolia and Siemens), Regional Sales Engineer at Infilco Degremont , and Regional Technical Specialist and Technical Services/Development Engineer at Dow Chemical. Multiple leadership, business development, and technical roles have provided him with extensive global experience, spanning both the commercial and technical aspects of the water industry. His diverse expertise has made him a key figure in driving innovation and success across the sector.
Rita Hansen
Rita has over 30 years of executive management, engineering and operations management, and project management experience in a diverse range of industries. Since 2006, she has specialized in early phase and high growth environments which focus on global opportunities in the energy and environmental sectors.
Rita holds a BS of Industrial Engineering degree from the University of Washington and over the years has continued her education in the fields of management, mathematics, and education. In 2017 and 2019, Rita was selected by the US State Department to represent the United States at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (India and The Netherlands). Rita is a member of the STEM Investment Council for the State of Oregon Chief Education office and is an Advisory Board member for the Oregon State University Advantage Accelerator. Rita is also a mentor and advisor to local high schools, and a volunteer for regional economic development activities in Central Oregon. Before re-settling in Central Oregon in 2011, Rita and her husband traveled for 8+ years through 26 countries focusing on exploration, mountaineering, sailing, and diving.
Bill Harvey
Bill has advised company founders from the formation phase, through capital raising, and exit strategies. He has also advised VCs and strategic investors in opportunity evaluation, carve-outs, operational synergies, and post acquisition integration of operations and business culture. His global experience is across a broad swath of industry verticals, end user applications and technologies. His water industry heritage includes Ionics, GE Water, Modern Water, Vandstrom and a water technology consulting practice. He serves as a chairman of a municipal water/wastewater utility. Bill specializes in new technology scale-up, customer adoption, operating models, and business monetization. He is based in the Boston area.
Corina Carpentier
With 30 years of experience in water quality monitoring, Dr. Corina Carpentier is a recognized leader in the water monitoring technology industry. She is the founder of Benten Water Solutions and the Sensileau Sensor Platform, an innovative digital tool that accelerates the adoption of advanced sensor technologies in the water sector. Dr. Carpentier specializes in technical and market analysis for emerging water quality monitoring technologies, providing expertise in Technical Due Diligence reviews. Her background in aquatic ecotoxicology, combined with PRINCE2 certification, underscores her proficiency in managing complex international projects, fostering innovation, and supporting the digital transition of the water industry. As a trusted business advisor, Corina brings a wealth of knowledge and a global perspective to driving innovation and sustainable growth in sensor technologies for water monitoring.
Rick Woodling
With over 30 years in the water treatment and environmental area, Dr. Rick Woodling brings a strong background in water and wastewater treatment and innovation. His roles have spanned well known companies such as Intel where he was Senior Technologist leading innovation for some of the largest zero liquid discharge systems in the world. Prior to Intel, Rick was based in Singapore and held the position of Global Head, Water Services for TUV SUD with a focus on consulting and owner engineer for some of the largest semiconductor, desalination and textile companies in the world. His work at TUV SUD took him through the Middle East, Asia, Australia and South East Asia. Rick has also gained experience in the start-up and investment Industry as Operating Partner at CSLA Singapore Clean Resources Asia Growth fund focusing on Water treatment investments and portfolio management. Working with portfolio companies based in China, India, Australia and Singapore, Rick helped guide market penetration, negotiate commercial agreements and guided them in product portfolio expansion.
Rick’s experience includes strong technical and innovation skills. As Director for Global Research and Development for Siemens Water based in Singapore, Rick lead one of the largest Water focused R&D centers in the world. He has multiple patents and over 50 presentations and publications in all disciplines of water and wastewater treatment. His strong knowledge of process chemistry and engineering has added benefit to many customers and projects.