Wendy de Hoog, MSc, serves as a Senior Planner in the Green Infrastructure Team at the City of Vancouver. She is an urban planner with a long-standing interest in policy development, engagement and storytelling and is passionate about creating inclusive and resilient communities that consider urban water management approaches from the outset of a planning process.

Wendy’s role is to lead, develop and implement policies related to urban water management and green infrastructure in the public and private realm. One of her most rewarding projects has been developing the City’s ambitious Rain City Strategy which reimagines and transforms how the City of Vancouver manages rainwater in the urban environment with the goals of improving water quality, resilience and livability through creating healthy urban and natural ecosystems.

Download a presentation from Wendy's talk (PDF, 5 MB)

Monique Franklin (Verbal Oasis), is an artist, poet, writer, and performer from Rainier Valley, Seattle. She has been referred to as “the unofficial poet laureate of South Seattle,” “The Billie Holiday of Spoken Word,” “the Verbal Manifestation of Nina Simone’s Soul,” and “High Priestess of prose, poetry and the art of story telling!”

Monique is a 10+ year member of African American Writer’s Alliance and has self-published two volumes of poetry entitled “Acoustic Accolades” and “Erotic Annals of a Poet.” She has released three spoken word albums “Acoustic Accolades Volume 1,” “Hot Summer Nights,” and “The Mama’z Muezz Soundtrack,” all available on Sound Cloud. Her poetry gives voice to social issues, human relationships, tributes to her many influences, and self-discovery. As a performer you can find her poetry commingling with musicians, vocalist and dancers. She is currently working on “Mama’z Muezz,” her one-woman play that explores the theme of African-American motherhood glimpsed from present day, historical, and ancestral vantage points of mother’s of African descent. The subject matter of her works stems from the rich spectrum of her life experiences. This woman is a creative soul.

Justin Hegarty, P.E., LEED A.P., is an environmental engineer and executive director of the nonprofit Reflo - Sustainable Water Solutions. Justin has a Bachelor of Sciences degree in Civil Engineering from UW-Milwaukee and environmental engineering masters work at Milwaukee School of Engineering. Along with co-founding Reflo in 2013, he has worked as an environmental consultant for 10 years working on green infrastructure, alternative energy, and brownfield remediation projects. Watch a video about a school redevelopment project that Justin worked on.

Get a virtual tour of a school redevelopment project by Reflo.

Lisa Sasso is a Senior Project Planner at the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District. Lisa has been working in the water sector for almost 10 years. Lisa’s work entails implementing aspects of MMSD’s 2035 Vision to attain zero overflows, zero basement backups, and improved stormwater management. Lisa manages green infrastructure implementation projects, development of a GI maintenance program, green schoolyard initiatives, workforce development, and engagement with the community to increase the awareness of GI. MMSD is involved with the US Water Alliance’s Equity Taskforce where Lisa is helping address the barriers to the water industry through an equity and just lens.

Download a presentation from Lisa's talk (PPT, 18.5 MB).