National Technical Director
Arcadis
Mr. Blake is a seasoned clean water leader and engineer with a diverse set of professional experiences. He has served as a consultant delivering masterplans to address long range utility needs, as a utility leader and executive directly navigating the challenges and driving solutions for communities, and as a tech focused solution provider leveraging innovative approaches to extracting the most from our systems.
Mr. Blake understands utility challenges from the perspective of the utility. He has led multiple efforts to develop innovative sewer overflow control plans to address consent decree mandates and simultaneously enhancing communities. He has also embraced technology and promoted the use of novel solutions to improve utility effectiveness and better protecting the environment.
Mr. Blake holds a B.S. from Ohio University and a M.S. from The Ohio State University, both in civil engineering. He began his professional career at Malcolm Pirnie, now Arcadis, in 1998 developing infrastructure master plans to address community needs, water quality, and compliance for drinking, stormwater, and clean water utilities throughout the Midwest. In 2005, he moved to the public sector in a leadership role serving the citizens of central Ohio and the City of Columbus as the Administrator of the Division of Sewerage and Drainage. Later, he joined Sanitation District Number #1 of Northern Kentucky. Following his public service roles, Mr. Blake joined a small wastewater technology company which was later acquired by Xylem where he focused on optimizing wastewater networks and treatment.
Mr. Blake has extensive experience with planning, design and construction of massive capital improvements including consent decree programs, asset management programs, stormwater programs, tunnels, treatment plants, and green infrastructure. He has leveraged extensive modeling work and real time control strategies to save over $1B in capital improvements to meet consent order mandates. His public servant leadership roles give him a unique experience as a decision maker for all aspects of running a sewer utility allowing him to relate and build trust with our utility clients in North America. He has experience with regulatory agencies at the state and federal level negotiating consent decrees and advocating with state (www.aomwa.org) and federal (nacwa.org) branches of government to promote clean water utilities and their interests.
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The Next Generation of SWMM: A Workshop for Stakeholders and Partners
Monday, May 20, 2024
1:00 PM – 4:30 PM CT