The Great Lakes Water Authority in Detroit has elected Abe Munfakh, board representative for Wayne Country, as chair; Beverly Walker-Griffea, board representative for the state of Michigan, as vice chair; and Jaye Quadrozzi, board representative for Oakland County, as secretary. Their positions were effective Jan. 1, and they will each serve a one-year term.
“I want to sincerely thank Brian Baker for his service as chairman of the GLWA Board during 2019,” says Munfakh. “His commitment and hard work on behalf of GLWA and its member partners is very much appreciated. Working alongside him as vice chairman over the last year has been an honor. I look forward to my year as chair and to making a positive impact using my unique knowledge as an engineer. I also am committed to the spirit of regional collaboration which has guided this board over the last four years.”
Munfakh brings more than 30 years of civil engineering and planning experience and joined the board as Wayne Country representative in 2017. He is the president and CEO of Munfakh and Associates LLC and has served on the Plymouth Township Planning Commission, Plymouth Township board of trustees, Northville Chamber of Commerce, Schoolcraft College Foundation board, the Henry Ford College Foundation, and the Arab American and Chaldean Council.
Walker-Griffea joined the authority as Michigan’s representative in September 2019. She has more than 30 years of experience in higher education and is the president of Mott Community College in Flint. Her organizational involvements have included the Greater Flint Health Coalition board of directors, Metro Community Development board of directors, and the Flint branch of the NAACP. She previously served as a member of the Flint City Water Response team.
Quadrozzi was appointed as the association’s Oakland County representative in October. She has 15 years of experience in commercial litigation for both federal and state courts. She is also a member of the Michigan, Illinois, and California state bars and has served as the Oakland County representative on the Huron-Clinton Metropolitan Authority board of commissioners.
Other board members include Freman Hendrix and Gary A. Brown, representatives for the city of Detroit, and Bryan Baker, representative for Macomb County.
The authority is a provider-of-choice for drinking water services to nearly 40 percent of Michigan’s population and wastewater services to nearly 30 percent. It offers a Water Residential Assistance Program to help low-income households afford water. The authority’s board includes one representative each from Oakland, Macomb, and Wayne counties, two from Detroit, and one appointed by the Michigan governor to represent customer communities outside of the tri-county area.
