A Letter from Our New CEO: Catherine Edwards
It is with great enthusiasm that I join the ClearWater Solutions (CWS) team! I am excited to work
with each of you to build on the tremendous success CWS has had by delivering on our promises to
existing clients and thoughtfully growing the business to serve new clients and communities. CWS
(and the legacy companies that comprise CWS) has created a strong brand and I am truly honored
to help write the next chapter of our story. Each of us has an important role to play in the company’s
continued success. My role is to communicate the vision, empower the organization to act on that
vision, and ensure that we hold ourselves accountable to the performance objectives required to
achieve the vision.
Over the next few weeks, immediate-past CEO, Steve Cawood, will be transitioning into a new role – Chief Growth Officer – where he will focus exclusively on business development, client relations, and related duties. In addition to his active role in the business, Steve will assume the role of Chairman of the CWS Board of Directors. I look forward to working with Steve in these new roles.
As we move forward together, I will be reporting to all employees quarterly in an email communicating our collective successes, challenges, and opportunities. I see regular communication as key to ensuring organizational alignment and operational transparency. Effective communication, however, is necessarily a two-way exercise. To that end, I am committed to spending time on a regular basis meeting with different operational teams in the business to hear from you directly.
In the spirit of direct communication, let me try to answer a few questions that may be on your mind: what are my aspirations for CWS and what will I do in the first 3-4 months?
My Aspirations for CWS
- To be recognized as a leading water and wastewater contract operations and maintenance company
- To be a model of operational excellence
- To be the largest water and wastewater contract operations company in our footprint
- To be the preferred private sector employer in water and wastewater operations in our footprint
What I Will Do in My First 100 Days
- Spend time with CWS team members to learn more about CWS’s operations
- Meet with key clients and stakeholders
- Review our organizational structure and address issues and opportunities, if any
- Work with the leadership team and the Board to review and refine CWS’s strategy and business plan
- Develop goals and plans for implementing the business plan and strategy
Finally, a little bit about me. I currently live in Greenville, SC with my 16-year-old son, Fritz, who is a junior in high school. We have two English Springer Spaniel dogs, Rosie and Remi, who pretty much run the house and graciously allow Fritz and me to live with them. I also have two adult daughters, Olivia and Adelaide, who are busy charting their post-graduate paths and learning to financially support themselves (yay!).
Olivia graduated from SMU in Dallas, TX in 2021 with a Mechanical Engineering degree and is currently working for West Monroe Consultants in their Dallas Office in the Energy and Utilities Division. Adelaide (Addie) graduated from Clemson University in 2022 with a Civil Engineering degree and is finishing her first year of law school at the University of South Carolina.
I am a big college sports fan, particularly football and basketball. I’m a loyal South Carolina Gamecock fan (sorry Steve Cawood!) and regularly attend Auburn football games with my fiancé, Randy Dobbs, who is from Auburn and has season tickets. For those of you who follow college football, you have to respect my loyalty to the Gamecocks – hope springs eternal! I’ve also been known to binge watch college basketball during March Madness, which is possibly my favorite time of year. This year was a total bust, though, as I had Houston winning it all!
Aside from sports, I enjoy traveling, hiking, fly fishing, and riding my Peloton (a Covid addition). I am in the process of buying a home in Auburn, AL, where I plan to spend about 50% of my time to start. Given the geographic reach of our business, I expect to be traveling a fair amount too. But wherever I am, I will always be accessible by email and cell phone.
At CWS, we have the opportunity to positively impact the quality of life in the communities we serve every day – it doesn’t get much better than that! I look forward to working with each of you to make a positive difference for our clients and their customers.
Best,
Catherine
