Keynote Speakers
The Organising Committee has been succesful in securing three highly regarded key note speakers to date and hopes to add to this list within the coming months.
Mr. Dick De Bruin
Mr De Bruin builds upon 35 years working experience on integrated water management, more specifically focused on inland water transport, flood (plain) and dike management, river basin management and environmental rehabilitation programs. In this respect he has been involved regularly in training- and education programs and in contacts with the media. He always has been working in the public sector, but has had short assignments for mainly consultancy services in the private sector rather frequent all over the world. He has organized various (inter)national workshops on subjects related to integrated water management.
He has worked on a secondment as a permanent staff officer for 2,5 years at the World Bank in Washington DC (1998 ' 2001). He has been involved as a consultant in numerous projects, more in particular in Asia and South America; in this respect he has composed an overall master plan for the development of the Ganges river in India, focused on inland navigation.
Mr De Bruin has been lecturer at Unesco-IHE-Delft for 25 years, and has published articles and contributed to congresses over the years, more in particular for PIANC, ICID, World Water Forum and environmental organizations. Today, for the ICID he is secretary for the Working Group on History of Irrigation, Drainage and Floods and is chairman of the Working Group on Comprehensive Approaches to Flood Management. For his work he has been awarded and has received official recognition on several occasions.
Dr. Phil Mitchell
Dr. Phil Mitchell is the Managing Partner of Mitchell Partnerships an environmental consulting practice based in Auckland and Dunedin which he established in 1997. Previously Dr. Mitchell co-founded and was the Managing Director of Kingett Mitchell & Associates.
Dr. Mitchell is a civil engineer by profession, a past president of the Resource Management Law Association, a member of the New Zealand Planning Institute and member of the previous Minister for the Environment's Resource Management Act Reference Group.
He has wide ranging experience in providing environmental advice to both the private and public sectors over the past 25 years, and has an in-depth knowledge of New Zealand's environmental legislation and its implementation.
Dr Mitchell is currently advising many of the country's leading enterprises on environmental matters. He specialises in the provision of strategic environmental advice and managing the acquisition of environmental approvals for major projects throughout New Zealand. He is an experienced and skilled expert witness and has acted as a hearings commissioner on numerous occasions.
Dr. Rob Vertessy
Rob joined CSIRO Land and Water (Canberra) as a researcher in 1987 and specialised in the field of forest hydrology and catchment modelling. From 1992, Rob was a lead researcher in the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Catchment Hydrology and was appointed Deputy Director of that CRC in 1996 and Director in 2002.
Between 2004 and 2007, Rob was Chief of CSIRO Land and Water, Australia's premier land and water R&D enterprise. In late 2006, Rob was seconded to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet to advise the Australian Government on a national water information strategy.
In May 2007, Rob was seconded to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology to establish its new Water Division and as Deputy Director, lead the implementation of the Bureau's new water information role and responsibilities described in the Commonwealth Water Act 2007.
Paul Osman
Paul Osman (ASFPM/State of Illinois) is the Floodplain Programs Manager with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources/Office of Water Resources. He coordinates federal, state and local floodplain regulations as well as the National Flood Insurance Program for over 1,000 Illinois communities. His duties also included assisting with the coordination of floodplain mapping, flood disaster response, and flood mitigation activities in Illinois.
Prior to joining IDNR/OWR, Paul was a Resource Conservationist with the Soil Conservation Service and served 3 years with the U.S Peace Corps in Kenya. He has Geography/Geology degrees from Augustaria College and has done graduates studies in Resource Management at Illinois State University. Paul served three terms as the Midwest representative on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Floodplain Managers and has served on many national task forces regarding flood issues.
