Ude, Sheryl

Senior Advisor to the Chief Operating Officer DC WATER

Sheryl Ude serves as the Senior Advisor to the Chief Operating Officer, where she is responsible for supporting the COO in overseeing and executing a portfolio of strategic initiatives and projects across the Engineering, Operating, Watershed Management, Shared Services, Information Technology, and Customer Care divisions. She is the lead for the development of the U.S. Water Alliance Water Equity Network Roadmap for DC Water and in partnership with their Inaugural Artist-in-Residence, Benny Starr, she is leading the “Journey of Equity” for the Authority through an authentic, non-traditional storytelling and listening session.

Being new to the water sector and bringing the experience of macro-level social work and justice, she believes in approaching water challenges with a heart to understand all sides and believes that every person has an impact and role to play in water equity – from the Board Room to the frontline to the customer. Sheryl brings over 15 years of experience as a leader and change agent in large metropolitan regions. She has dedicated her career to harnessing strategic thinking, research and data, evaluation, and the power of people to create, lead, and implement operational and policy solutions from coast to coast. She led trail blazing campaigns and initiatives to drive operational and cost efficiency plans, strategic collaboration, and legislative reform to transform communities in a more just way.

Several of her groundbreaking “firsts” gained national recognition, increased public trust and awareness, and have become best practices in regional leadership and equity. This work includes:

• Recently launching DC Water's "Journey of Water Equity" where the Authority is honoring its history and ancestors, documenting current personal stories of growth and triumph, and engaging in challenging conversations of opportunities to "do more";

• Led the development of a multi-stakeholder 12-month Taskforce to tackle the District of Columbia's carbon goals through the innovative, equity-driven strategies and tools to operationalize how DC Water prioritizes their project portfolio around our most vulnerable populations;

• Instituted the Reimagining Atlanta City Detention Center initiative from a vision to the country’s first tangible operational, policy, and programming strategy for jail closure and justice reform;

• Led Atlanta’s strategic rebid and restructure of a multi-year and multi-million dollar as-needed engineering contract that aligned multi-department work and contract planning to accurately address upcoming infrastructure project needs;

• In collaboration with the water utility, led the update to San Francisco’s first customer ratepayer assurance scorecard and launched the first nonprofit resource fair to grow citywide contracting opportunities for underserved residents; 

• Designed and opened San Francisco’s first-ever data academy for access to a 30,000-employee workforce to improve job performance;

• Executed San Francisco School District’s first ever 10-year Public Education Enrichment Fund program evaluation to restructure the City’s sports, libraries, arts, and music programs

Sheryl has an M.S.W. from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a B.A. Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley. She has been recognized for her contributions to community through the City and County of San Francisco Controller’s Office Merit Award for Professional Excellence and as one of ten honorees of the Outstanding Atlanta Class of 2020 and Atlanta Metro area's Regional Leadership Institute. 

Sessions
W17 How to Increase Diversity and Foster Inclusion in Your Organization
Monday, October 18 1:30 PM - 5:00 PM Central Time
W17 How to Increase Diversity and Foster Inclusion in Your Organization
Monday, October 18 1:30 PM - 5:00 PM Central Time
Water Justice: How We Improve Water Equity
Wednesday, October 20 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM Central Time