Board Members
Gordon Merklein, Chair
E-mail: gmerklein@owasa.org
Gordon Merklein, Chair, began serving on the OWASA Board of Directors in December, 2005 as an appointee of the Chapel Hill Town Council.
Mr. Merklein is the Executive Director of Real Estate Development for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has worked in commercial real estate, and as a planning consultant with the landscape architecture and environmental planning firm EDAW.
Gordon received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Southern Methodist University and a Master's degree in City Planning for Georgia Institute of Technology. He also holds the American Institute of Certified Planners (A.I.C.P.) professional designation. Mr. Merklein serves on the Board of Directors of the Orange Community Housing Land Trust and he is a member of the Town of Chapel Hill's Inclusionary Zoning Task Force. Gordon and his wife, Catherine Duncan, have two sons. Gordon is an avid cyclist and he plays in the Rainbow Soccer league.
Alan E. Rimer, Vice Chair
Telephone: 919-929-7076 | E-mail: arimer@owasa.org
Alan E. Rimer, P.E., joined the OWASA Board of Directors in July, 2007 as an appointee of the Chapel Hill Town Council. He chairs the Board's Natural Resources/Technical Systems Committee and serves on the Finance Committee.
Mr. Rimer, who served as a member, Secretary, and Vice Chair of the OWASA Board from July, 1995 to June, 2002, is a registered Professional Engineer (P.E.) in North Carolina and four other states. He holds a Diplomate in Environmental Engineering (D.E.E.).
Alan has 40 years of professional experience in planning, design, management and financial evaluation of projects in water resources, water reuse, wastewater, solid waste and other environmental studies for public agencies and private industries in the United States, Asia, Europe and South America.
Alan's water resource work has included water supply and nonpoint pollution control planning studies, water treatment and distribution system design, rate studies and water conservation and reuse studies. His experience in wastewater treatment and reuse has ranged from master planning and system evaluations to the design of wastewater treatment facilities. This has included joint municipal/industrial facilities and the first U.S. industrial reuse application of microstraining and ion exchange for industrial wastewater recycling/reuse. He has also performed environmental cost accounting, due diligence studies and environmental auditing for governmental and corporate entities.
Since 1997, Mr. Rimer has held senior positions with the international consulting firm Black & Veatch, where he is now the Director of Water Reuse. He is also an adjunct member of the faculties of the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University.
Mr. Rimer has served on the Chapel Hill Town Council. He is a past chair of the Orange County Board of Health and he currently chairs the Town of Chapel Hill's Stormwater Advisory Board. He has served as a Trustee of the Chapel Hill Museum and on Chapel Hill's Planning Board, Comprehensive Planning Task Force, Technology Committee and Solid Waste Task Force, among others; and has been appointed to a number of North Carolina boards and commissions and served on appointed U.S. Senate and White House Committees under the administrations of both political parties.
He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Duke University, and a Master of Science degree in Environmental Engineering from the University of North Carolina. He is pursuing a doctorate in Environmental Engineering from Duke University/ Kennedy Western University.
Alan is married to Linda Rimer, an official with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; and has a son, Chris and daughter, Wendy, both of whom are married and live in San Francisco, CA. Mr. Rimer's hobbies include bicycling, traveling, reading, gardening and woodworking.
Ms. Amy Witsil joined the OWASA Board of Directors in May, 2010 as an appointee of the Town of Chapel Hill. She chairs the Finance Committee and serves on the Natural Resources/Technical Systems Committee.
Ms. Witsil is a Technology Project Manager in the Center for Technology Applications at the Research Triangle Institute (RTI) International. Her work centers on the formation of joint partnerships for technology development. She helps clients look for novel technology and R&D partnership opportunities, and provides strategic technology management services for private and public sector clients.
Ms. Witsil assesses new technologies and business plans, and scouts for technology solutions. In RTI's innovation-led economic development activities, she evaluates best practices in technology accelerator programs and benchmarks regional research and technology assets.
Her areas of expertise include aerospace, solar thermal, fluid dynamics, materials and structures, sensors and detectors, strategic competitive intelligence, best practices in technology transfer (program evaluation) and innovation-led regional economic development.
Before joining RTI, Ms. Witsil was an aerospace engineer with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) at the Langley Research Center, where she performed and managed thermal analysis tasks in support of various NASA missions.
She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Virginia in 1987, and has done graduate coursework in fluid dynamics.
Ms. Witsil's hobbies are reading, walking, swimming and raising the family's puppy. She and her husband Matt have three children: Grace, Tucker and Caleb.
Amy grew up in Williamsburg, Virginia and has lived in Chapel Hill since 1997.
Fred Battle
1105 Brenda Court
Chapel Hill, NC 27516
Telephone: 919-942-4475 | E-mail: fbattle@owasa.org
Fred Battle began serving on the OWASA Board in July, 2006 as an Orange County appointee. He chairs the Board's Human Resources Committee and serves on the Outreach and Education Committee.
Mr. Battle has served on the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School Board, the Orange County Board of Health, the Board of Directors of the Joint–Orange Chatham Community Action Agency, the Dispute Settlement Center Board and the Campus YMCA Board.
Mr. Battle served for many years as Chair of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chapter of the NAACP and as President of the Chapel Hill High School Parent-Teacher Association (PTA).
Mr. Battle is retired from the Town of Chapel Hill, where he served in the positions of Public Works Superintendent, Parks Superintendent and Director of the Hargraves Center.
A life-long resident of Chapel Hill, he graduated from Lincoln High School and attended North Carolina Agricultural and Technical University.
Mr. Battle has received the Charles M. Jones Social Justice Award, the Martin Luther King Jr. Citizenship Award, the NAACP's University and Community Martin Luther King Jr. Community Service Award, the Hank Anderson Breakfast Club's Community Service Award and the Lincoln and Chapel Hill High School Hall of Fame Award.
He and his wife Angeline have four children: Jacquelyn, Jennifer, Fred Jr. and Ivy. Fred's hobbies include walking, fishing and golf.
Terri Buckner
E-mail: tbuckner@owasa.org
Terri Buckner began serving on the OWASA Board in August, 2011 as an Orange County appointee. She previously served on the OWASA Board from June, 2005 to September, 2006 as a Carrboro appointee. She serves on the Board's Human Resources, Natural Resources/Technical Systems and Outreach and Education Committees.
Terri is employed as a Business Analyst with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). She has over 20 years of experience as a professional educator, including two and a half years with the UNC Sustainability Office. She specialized in distance education and faculty development.
She is also an information technology professional specializing in systems analysis and business function alignment, and used this background in energy management, education and student admissions.
Terri Buckner’s service on local advisory boards and groups has included the Carrboro Transportation and Environmental Advisory Boards, Smith Level Road Task Force, Chapel Hill Technology Advisory Committee and Solid Waste Reduction Task Force, the festival planning committee for the Friends of Bolin Creek and the Chancellor's Commuting Cost Task Force at UNC.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in economics at UNC and a Master of Science in Instructional Systems at Florida State University, where she completed coursework in her doctoral studies. She also received a certification in program evaluation from Florida State.
Terri's leisure activities are photography, kayaking, gardening and reading.
Will Raymond
E-mail: wraymond@owasa.org
Will Raymond began serving on the OWASA Board in July, 2011. He is an appointee of the Town of Chapel Hill. He serves on the Board's Natural Resources/Technical Systems and Outreach and Education Committees.
Will has lived in Chapel Hill since 1988. He is a consulting software developer who focuses on enterprise application integration and business process management technologies. Earlier in his career, he was the chief technology/ information officer in the local companies Reged.com and Blast, Inc.; and worked as an environmental technician and commercial construction inspector.
Mr. Raymond has been a local activist since 2000, concentrating on environmental, development and social justice issues including the Carolina North Development Agreement with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Chapel Hill's Comprehensive Plan and Land Use Management Ordinance; affordable housing policies; regional watershed protection; energy building standards; water, noise, air and light pollution controls; the economic development planning process; and sustainable solid waste management.
His service on local advisory boards and groups has included the Chapel Hill Technology Board, Horace Williams Citizens Committee on Carolina North, the Downtown Parking Task Force, Sustainability Visioning Task Force, Festifall Planning Committee, Project Connect Planning Committee, Friends of the Lincoln Arts Center and Friends of Bolin Creek.
He received his Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from East Carolina University.
Mr. Raymond is married to local artist Ellie Reinhold, a founding member of the Hillsborough Gallery Co-op. They have a teenage son, Elijah.
Dana Stidham
E-mail: dstidham@owasa.org
Ms. Dana Stidham began serving on the OWASA Board in July, 2011 as an appointee of the Town of Carrboro. She serves on the Board's Human Resources and Outreach and Education Committees.
Her professional career has included serving as a Planner with the Town of Chapel Hill; Town of Herndon, Va.; and City of Round Rock, TX; and internships with the Texas Transportation Institute and Lower Colorado River Authority.
She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Haverford College in 1995 and a Master of Science in Architecture, Community and Regional Planning from the University of Texas at Austin in 2000.
A Carrboro resident for six years, Ms. Stidham has served on the Town of Carrboro’s Environmental Advisory Board and Transportation Advisory Board, and on the Board of Directors for the Community School for People Under Six.
She and her husband, Craig Raborn, have a 6-year-old daughter, Ally; and a 2-year-old son, Shaler. Originally from Raleigh, Ms. Stidham’s avocations include sailing and kayaking.
William R. Stott
105 Oleander Road
Carrboro, NC 27510
E-mail: wstott@owasa.org
William R. Stott, Ph.D., joined the OWASA Board in October, 2006 as an appointee of the Town of Carrboro. He chairs the Outreach and Education Committee and serves on the Natural Resources/Technical Systems Committee.
Professor Stott has served on the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Carolina Environmental Program (CEP) and as the Director of the CEP's Albemarle Ecological Field Site.
Before joining the University's CEP, Mr. Stott was an Assistant Professor at Elon College and a lecturer in American Studies and International Studies at UNC - Chapel Hill. His scholarship has focused on American nature writing and “ecocriticism”; a grant from NC Sea Grant initiated ongoing ethnographic research in NC commercial fishing communities.
Mr. Stott is the author of several articles, poems, and conference proceedings; publication of his first volume of poetry, “Loomings,” is pending. His courses at UNC - Chapel Hill have examined the literary and visual representation of wetlands landscapes, the literature of place, and the representation of commercial fishing in folklore, literature, and contemporary science. He has received three teaching awards at Chapel Hill, including the prestigious Tanner Award.
Originally from the New York metropolitan area, Mr. Stott received his Master's and Bachelor's degrees from Georgetown University in literature and philosophy, and his doctoral degree in English from UNC-Chapel Hill.
He and his wife, Jessica Ryan, have two children: Alma and Liam. Ms. Ryan is a fabric artist and quilter, and according to her husband, “She also has an eye for antiques and landscape design.” She is the Managing Editor at Oxford University Press in Cary.
Dr. Stott's hobbies include birdwatching, botany, running, camping, kayaking, rock climbing and other outdoor activities.
John A. Young
E-mail: jyoung@owasa.org
John A. Young joined the OWASA Board in March, 2011 as an appointee of the Town of Chapel Hill. He serves on the Finance and Human Resources Committees.
Mr. Young’s extensive experience as a business executive includes:
- directing a multi-year business improvement program as Chief Operating Officer of the Visiting International Faculty (VIF) Program, a mission-driven enterprise based in Chapel Hill which advances education and cultural exchange.
- leading the creation of innovative businesses, products, and market strategies at HP/Compaq (Vice President, General Manager and founder of strategic worldwide business units; and Director of Product Management) and at Red Hat (Vice President for Marketing), which helped generate 30% to 90% year-over-year growth on revenues ranging from $70 million to $4.5 billion.
- leading strategy and business improvement projects as Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company, and for Fortune 500 senior management teams, including those at two electric utilities, a telecommunications service provider, and a cable operator.
He earned a Master of Business Administration degree as a Fuqua Scholar at Duke University in 1990; and a Bachelor of Science degree in Electronics Engineering, magna cum laude, from Yale University in 1982.
Mr. Young sings in the Chapel Hill Community Chorus. His wife, Kenlyn, is completing a Master’s degree in Nutrition at Meredith College. They have two children: Alex and Anna.