Nathan Qualls, P.E., will lead water resource utility serving Northeast Wisconsin
NEW Water, the brand of the Green Bay Metropolitan Sewerage District, has announced a change in leadership: Nathan Qualls, P.E., will assume duties as Executive Director on Dec. 23, 2024. NEW Water’s current Executive Director, Thomas W. Sigmund, P.E., will retire in January 2025.
After a thorough search process, the NEW Water Commission has selected Qualls (see photo at left) for the position. Qualls currently serves as the organization’s Director of Technical Services, and began his career at NEW Water as a Staff Engineer in 2008. He has a wealth of experience in the wastewater sector, including industrial wastewater treatment prior to his work with NEW Water. Qualls has a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is a registered Professional Engineer in Wisconsin.
“The NEW Water Commission welcomes Nathan as incoming Executive Director and looks forward to working closely with him,” said Kathryn Hasselblad, NEW Water Commission President. “Nathan has a proven career and vast expertise in tackling complex water challenges. We are grateful Nathan has accepted our offer, and we have the utmost confidence in his ability to lead this organization into the future.”
“I am grateful for this opportunity to serve our community,” Qualls said. “We have a talented and dedicated team, and an abundance of water resources in Wisconsin. I am honored to continue to collaborate with our community to move our organization forward to protect this precious resource.”
The NEW Water Commission expressed deep gratitude for Sigmund’s leadership over the past 17 years.
Sigmund (see photo at right) ushered in the Resource Recovery & Electrical Energy, or R2E2, project, which recovers heat and converts wastewater into electricity, thereby avoiding costs and reducing the facility’s carbon footprint. In response to impending regulations, Sigmund launched NEW Water’s watershed approach to water quality improvements, a more cost-effective permit compliance option, which also yields more environmental benefit.
“NEW Water is a team of highly trained experts and professionals, and I am very proud of what we have accomplished together,” Sigmund said. “I want to thank our customers, our community, and my colleagues for their support during my time here.”
About NEW Water
NEW Water, the brand of the Green Bay Metropolitan Sewerage District, has been proudly serving Northeast Wisconsin since 1931. Our staff work around the clock so people can do laundry, flush the toilet, and run their businesses whenever they want. NEW Water is a wholesale provider of wastewater treatment and conveyance services to 15 municipal customers, serving approximately 238,000 residents throughout a 285-square-mile area. We treat an average of 41 million gallons a day at our two facilities.