Board of Directors

John R. Babson Dr. Martin G. Beyer Dr. Peter G. Bourne Dr. Randall Donohue Dr. M. Julie Kim T. A. Kuepper, Executive Director Chris Kunze Amb. John W. McDonald, Chairman of the Board Dr. Jens W. Schulze

Technical Advisory Committee

Dr. Robert Carnahan, Ph.D., P.E. University of South Florida Associate Dean for Research College of Engineering Expertise: All Water Treatment Processes Dr. Charles P. Gerba, Ph.D. University of Arizona Microbiology & Immunology and Soil, Water & Environmental Science Expertise: Microbiology Mr. Mark A. Silbernagel Test Director, Seawater Desalination Test Facility Port Hueneme, California Expertise: Seawater Desalination / Other Water Treatment Processes Dr. Steven T. Ruggiero, Ph.D.University of Notre Dame, Physics Expertise: Condensed-Matter, Water Assaying, and Biological Physics Mr. David J. Paulson Consultant Expertise: Membrane Filtration, Membrane Demineralization and Related Technologies

Introduction

GLOBAL WATER was founded in 1982 by former U.S. Ambassador John McDonald and Dr. Peter Bourne to help save the lives of people in developing countries that are lost due to unclean water.

In 1977 the United Nations hosted a World Conference on Water. One of the many recommendations made by the Conference was to recommend a Decade focused on drinking water and sanitation. In 1978 Ambassador McDonald lifted that paragraph out of the larger World Conference document and decided to make that recommendation a reality. On November 10, 1980 the United Nations General Assembly adopted McDonald’s resolution unanimously and the Decade was launched (1981-1990). McDonald was named the United States Coordinator for the Decade by the State Department in 1979 and has continued his interest in water issues to this day.

Dr. Peter Bourne, a former White House Special Assistant to President Carter, was named United Nations Coordinator for the Decade in 1982, with the rank of Assistant Secretary General and was based in New York. The Decade was a great success bringing 1.1 billion people safe drinking water for the first time in their lives and 769 million people sanitation facilities.”

During this period, Ambassador McDonald traveled extensively to developing nations and saw first hand the problems that unclean water causes people to endure; as he tells it: "Nothing I had ever seen in my life prepared me for the day I landed in Africa. I saw villages where people trekked miles in the hot sun just to get clean water for the day. But even more tragic were the children I saw suffering from the lack of clean water. Many seemed to be just hours from death, and others had lost their vision to trachoma, an easily preventable disease caused by contaminated water."

Rather than providing short-term supplies like food and bottled water that are quickly consumed, GLOBAL WATER focuses on permanent solutions to a region's water needs. A handout fills a stomach for a few hours. Global Water enables entire villages to have clean, healthy water forever in order to change their lives - forever.

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Global Water is based upon the belief that the lack of access to safe drinking water is the primary cause of hunger, disease and poverty throughout the world. Founded in 1982, Global Water is an international, non-profit humanitarian organization focused on creating safe water supplies, sanitation facilities and related health programs for rural villagers in developing countries. Our program is designed to provide safe water supplies in rural villages to enable the rural poor to help themselves.

To achieve this goal, Global Water’s strategy is to provide permanent solutions to a region’s water needs by providing appropriate equipment (to include state-of-the-art technology) to:

    • Secure, purify, store and distribute new sources of water for domestic uses and agricultural purposes;

    • Drill new water wells to allow access to groundwater;

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Mr. John R. Babson is Executive Director Emeritus of Global Water. Besides a professional career as vice president of an international well drilling equipment manufacturer, Mr. Babson has had a distinguished humanitarian career in the non-profit sector, as well. From 1983 to 1989 he was President and Executive Director of the International Eye Foundation. At his initiation, the Foundation became the lead organization to arrange for the distribution of medicine to control and prevent the spread of River Blindness. Also during 1988 to 1990, Mr. Babson was a special assistant to the dean of Tulane University, School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine, for their River Blindness Control Project. It was during this time that Mr. Babson, working closely with contaminated water blindness activities, became focused on water-related health issues. Mr. Babson was Executive Director of Global Water for a period of 10 years ending in 2003.

Dr. Martin G. Beyer was an Associate Professor of Community and Preventative Medicine for International Health at New York Medical College, and an Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Public Health Engineers (London). He was a consultant for international development in the field of water supply, sanitation and hygiene for developing countries. He was also a director of WorldWater International, a company working towards developing new water resources, as well as developing new technologies for the use of solar energy. Mr. Beyer retired in 1990 after 20 years in the service of the United Nations working with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). In particular, from 1973 to 1989 he was a Senior Adviser to UNICEF, responsible for coordinating the organization’s water supply and sanitation effort worldwide. Dr. Beyer was also a Chairman for the UN Intersecretariat Group on Water Resources and Chairman of the Advisory Panel to the UNDP Global Project for the development and test & evaluation of water well hand-pumps.

Dr. Peter Bourne is a former Assistant Secretary General to the United Nations where he was appointed coordinator of the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade. He was an advisor and consultant for numerous governmental and private organizations, including Special Assistant to the President of the United States for health issues. He has taught and chaired medical-related departments at several Universities in the U. S. and has published an extensive array of books, articles, and book chapters over the past 35 years. Dr. Bourne is an advisor on health issues to the Carter Presidential Center, and is Chairman of the American Association for World Health.

Dr. Randall Donohue is Associate Professor of International Marketing at California Lutheran University. As an educator and consultant, he has special interests in communications, social enterprise, and market-based strategies for sustainable development. In the 1970s, Dr. Donohue and his wife served as U.S. Peace Corps Volunteers in India, where they worked as village extension agents in horticulture and nutrition. There, they learned first hand how water is key to alleviating poverty, hunger and disease in the village. In 1979, Dr. Donohue was appointed by the Governor of the State of Washington to manage the State’s first overseas trade office in Singapore. He went on to serve as Asia Regional Director in the U.S. Agricultural Trade Office, supervising programs and personnel in 14 countries. Dr. Donohue has extensive contacts and experience in the Asia-Pacific region, and is an active member of the National Peace Corps Association. For more information, please visit www.RandallDonohue.com.

Dr. M. Julie Kim is a civil engineer with 25 years of experience in infrastructure development and implementation projects in the U.S. and Asia-Pacific region, with a special focus on transport and large-scale property development projects.   Dr. Kim’s experience extends to all phases of project development process—from the initial planning phase through design, construction, and operations phases.  In Asia-Pacific region, Dr. Kim has hands-on work experience in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Laos, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.  In addition to her project management and business development capabilities, her technical expertise includes: econometric modeling, linear programming and optimization, master planning, facility programming, as well as operations and infrastructure security. 

Mr. T. A. Kuepper, REM is the current Executive Director of Global Water, an environmental engineer and a Registered Environmental Manager.  His technical experience has included developing water supply equipment ranging from freshwater treatment to seawater desalination, as well as mobile hygienic systems. In a 30 year career as an Environmental Engineer, he has directed and participated in numerous water treatment and seawater desalination projects with a focus on designs that require minimal maintenance for long-term operation. Particular applications for his water treatment designs have included remote locations for the U.S. military, as well as rural areas of developing countries.

Chris Kunze has a degree from the University of Southern California, an MBA from the University of California – Los Angeles, and a Certificate in Air Transportation Management from the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania. His work experience includes resource, business enterprise and project management as a commercial airport manager for the past 34 years, and prior to that as a management consultant and management systems engineer in the aerospace industry. Mr. Kunze supports Global Water in the execution of strategic planning and project management, as well as development of special projects.  

U. S. Ambassador John McDonald is a lawyer, diplomat, development expert, and peacemaker, concerned with the World’s social, economic, and ethnic problems. He spent 20 years of his career working for the U. S. State Department in Western Europe and the Middle East in a wide variety of assignments in the area of multi-lateral diplomacy. In addition, he worked another 16 years representing the U. S. in various capacities on United Nations affairs, including coordinator of the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade. He has taught at several colleges and universities during his career and has been president of the Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy, which focuses on ethnic conflicts around the world. In 1992, he was named a Distinguished Visiting Professor at George Mason University’s Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution. He was twice appointed Ambassador by President Carter and was appointed by President Reagan to represent the U. S. at various United Nation World Conferences. Ambassador McDonald is currently the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Global Water.

Dr. Jens W. Schulze is a Professor of Marketing at the Fachhochschule Gelsenkirchen, a University in Germany. He holds degrees in both Chemistry (Ph.D.) and economics (MBA). Before beginning his University teaching career, Dr. Schulze’s business endeavors included working on numerous international projects that incorporated mobile water purification systems. These projects also included sanitation and hygiene equipment for developing countries. His focus at the University is to explore the relationship between what is technically possible compared to what is economically feasible.

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Program Manager

Mr. T. A. Kuepper, REM is the Program Manager for Global Water and in this capacity he manages the Program Management Office, located in Oxnard, California.  Mr. Kuepper continues to work towards the goal of bringing appropriate water supply equipment (to include state-of-the-art technology when possible) to help rural populations of water-short developing countries.

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