Alice Lisitsa is a flooding and hydraulics specialist with 16+ years’ experience in water engineering and hydrology. She holds a double degree in Civil Engineering and Science (BE/BSc) and a Master of Engineering Science by Research focused on biofiltration and Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD). Alice has led flood teams on major infrastructure programs including MRPV and LXRP, and contributes to education through teaching roles at Monash University and La Trobe University. She is committed to advancing stormwater management through leadership, advocacy, collaboration, and mentoring the next generation of professionals. 

Alice has completed her first 2 year term as the President of Stormwater Victoria and has recently been elected as the President of Stormwater Australia.

Julia Baumann is a Senior Engineering Manager and a Senior Associaite at Dalton Consulting Engineers (DCE).  DCE is a mid-tier consultancy with approximately 75 employees in Victoria and Queensland. Julia has more than 15 years of experience in stormwater engineering. You may know her from presentations at Stormwater Victoria conferences! She graduated from Rice University in 2004 and moved to Melbourne in 2008. Julia enjoys developing stormwater solutions that achieve great outcomes for multiple stakeholders. She is grateful that she can see the tangible benefits of her professional work protecting and improving Melbourne's waterways in her everyday life.  

Suresh is the IWM Planning Lead at South East Water.  With over 25 years of experience in the water industry, he is highly regarded for his strategic expertise across water, sewerage, stormwater, flooding and IWM. In his previous roles with Melbourne Water, City West Water and Yarra Valley Water, he has led the delivery of numerous visionary projects such as theFishermans Bend IWM Strategy, the Port Phillip Bay EMP, and Melbourne's Flood Management Strategy. More recently, he has led the development of South East Water's Stormwater Plan and Rainwater Tank Strategy and Strategic Assessments for Catchment Scale IWM Plans.  Suresh holds Master's degree qualifications in Enviornmental Engineering, Sociology, Business Administration and Water Resources Management.

Kirsten is a Senior Civil Engineer in the Integrated Water team at Spiire in Melbourne, specialising in stormwater managment and water sensitive urban design (WSUD). She is passionate about improving environmental outcomes, delivering design projects that balance sustainablity with practical engineering solutions. Kirsten has a Bachelor of Civil Engineering with Honours and seven years’ experience, including three in integrated water and four in civil design. A regular attendee at Stormwater Victoriaevents, Kirsten brings technical expertise, collaboration, and a strong commitment to advancing sustainable, industry-wide practices.

Aaron Dowling is a Civil Engineer with 15 years’ experience in integrated water management, strategy development and WSUD design gathered during his career spanning across the public and private sector. He is passionate about the design and implementation of innovative water servicing solutions that deliver high value community outcomes while protecting and enhancing the natural environment. Aaron has developed his strong analytical and problem-solving skills from broad exposure to development industry standards and practices. Leveraging these qualities, he has developed tools, authored guidelines and manuals and delivered training to support industry in designing and delivering IWM solutions. He has also led the delivery of several major IWM Plans and WSUD masterplans across Victoria, incorporating adaptive IWM pathway planning approaches.

Andrew Cooper is currently a project manager at Maroondah City Council (6 years) with qualifications in carbon management auditing (12 years). Areas of interaction include planning, engineering, construction, maintenance and strategy.  Andrew has also been the President of Eastern Climate Action Melbourne for more than 5 years.  He is also the founder of River to Reef Rebuild - a project designed to address stormwater design at large scale (the Greater Melbourne region including 36 Councils) and aims to restore 10% or more of the natural oyster habitat of Port Phillip Bay.

Dr Belinda Hatt is an environmental scientist with 20 years’ experience in the urban water sector. She currently works for Melbourne Water as a Waterways & Wetlands Research Specialist, where she undertakes research on stormwater impacts on river health and the design and operation of stormwater control measures, such as raingardens and wetlands. With experience across academia, consulting and government, Belinda aims to bridge the gap between research and practice and enjoys working on practical research that addresses real-world needs. She has authored over 90 publications and is an experienced tertiary and professional educator.

Jamie is an Environmental Engineer, Urban Planner and Geographer who has worked in sustainable water management for over 20 years. His experience encompasses a breadth of strategic, policy, technical, research, engagement and land-use planning aspects associated with implementation of integrated water management (IWM), water sensitive urban design (WSUD) and urban sustainability.  With extensive experience working across urban and rural water corporations (including Melbourne Water), Clearwater, local government and large consulting firms, Jamie has run his own IWM consulting business since 2013. Naturally collaborative and with a big-picture view, Jamie is passionate about improving sustainability and liveability outcomes for our community.

Karl has worked for SMEC Australia Pty Ltd for the past 9 years and currently holds the role as Victorian Discipline Lead in Urban Stormwater and Associate Engineer, Water Resources.  SMEC is a large engineering consulting firm (part of a larger global firm Surbana Jurong Group). Work mostly in Victoria but also work interstate and overseas projects in Asia Pacific region.  During 6 years with Melbourne Water in the Development Services and Investigations Team, Karl led work in water-sensitive urban design (WSUD), flood modelling, wetland design, dam break assessments, and construction supervision. They have also managed and coordinated multidisciplinary design teams, successfully overseeing medium-scale infrastructure projects from concept through delivery.  Since 2022, Karl has served on Stormwater Victoria's Policy and Advocacy Sub Committee, and is also engaged with the VUDM Working Group.

Leticia is currently a senior consultant at Water Technology. With a background in Civil Engineering, she has worked for E2Designlab for the last 4 years on several WSUD projects from concept to detailed design phase.  She is skilled in the preparation of documentation for infrastructure tenders and site-based construction inspections and has been heavily involved in estimation and construction phase management and project delivery. She has project managed and provided civil design, hydraulic calculations, MUSIC modelling and design drafting for multiple projects.

Neha is an IWM Consultant at Arup, with experience in integrated water management (IWM) strategies, stormwater harvesting and blue-green infrastructures. She has been working in the stormwater industry for the past 4 years and has a range of technical experience in stormwater modelling (MUSIC), catchment modelling (SOURCE), surface runoff and streamflow modelling (RORB) and spatial analysis (QGIS). Neha has built her expertise in IWM through successfully delivering projects for local government, state government and water authorities across Victoria. Previously, Neha has held committee roles at Australian Water Association Young Water Professional (2021-2023) and at Our Future Cities (industry Network Lead, 2020-2022).

Ruth McDonnell is the Manager of Water Cycle Stewardship Planning at Yarra Valley Water. She has had a long career in the water industry in both consultancy and water corporations, most recently working in areas of Integrated Water Management, Aboriginal Partnerships, Land Regeneration, Hy- draulic Modelling and Climate Resilience. She held a previous role of Design Team Manager at SMEC for Melbourne Water’s capital works program to improve waterway health. She studied Civil Engin- eering and Science at Monash University and did her final year Honours project in stormwater under the direction of Professor Tony Wong.

Zaki is a a Water Resources Engineer and Project manager with over 10 years of experience working on flood studies, stormwater design, and hydraulic modelling. Zaki has had the chance to lead some great projects with Melbourne Water, including secondments and major flood mapping reviews. His work covers everything from urban and tidal flooding to stormwater quality and mitigation design. Zaki is familiar with ARR and Melbourne Water guidelines, and enjoys contributing to the industry – whether it's through writing technical papers or being part of the Stormwater Victoria committee