About Steve

Steve has over 40 years of experience in water utility management, municipal government leadership, and private consulting.  He began his career with the City of Greensboro, NC Water Resources Department where he served at all levels of technical and managerial positions including electronics technician, superintendent, water supply division, and department operations manager until becoming Director of Water Resources utility in 2011.  Steve served as assistant city manager before retiring from public service in 2020. Before joining Raftelis, Steve worked as a private consultant in the areas of executive recruitment, technical water utility subject matter review, and business growth development.  Steve has extensive experience working in the areas of organizational improvement, governance, strategic planning, continuity of operations, disaster preparedness, capacity development, and capital improvement.

Steve’s wide range of experience has informed his extensive technical knowledge and administrative expertise in the areas of water and wastewater operations, asset management, regulatory compliance, general utility management, customer service, executive leadership, assessment, and affecting positive organizational change. As a result, City leadership consistently trusted his recommendations, leading to development and implementation of strategies that addressed a wide range of improvements, upgrades, and efficiencies regarding physical assets, operations, and associated fiscal impact.

Over the course of Steve’s career, he has been a passionate advocate and innovator for organizational improvement and culture change. During the 1990’s, Steve worked with the City’s Human Resources Department’s Training Division to develop its first front-line supervisor and mid-level management development program known as Leadership 2000. From there he participated in curriculum review, served as instructor, and was consulted on Executive Leadership Program development. His passion has always been to learn, foster good working relationships, and provide leadership in areas of Equity and Inclusion and Diversity Training, as well as working to change broken organizational culture to one where every employee respects and understands the responsibility each person has for one another.

Steve was instrumental in developing WaterMARK Academy, (Management, Accountability, Relationships, Key Performance Indicators), where employees throughout the Utility were provided the requisite training and guidance so that they could successfully work together as a team to define and develop the details of MARK, as well as develop an action plan that incorporated established core values of the City organization and the Utility. The WaterMARK Academy continues to improve and stays refreshed with employee leadership at all levels of the program.