Karen Frost (Executive Director, The Water Council) joins us from the USA to give her insights on DEI in the American water sector
What we call EDI (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion) here in the UK, is more commonly known as DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) in the States. In the current political climate in America, DEI is under pressure. Yet the water sector has many projects in place aiming to increase diversity in an effort to secure the workforce of the future that it needs. So, what is the current situation? And how do the challenges, opportunities and state-to-state contexts differ on the other side of the Atlantic.
Are there things we can learn from the US situation? Are there different approaches to bigger picture patterns such as AI and climate change?
Karen Frost is Executive Director at The Water Council, which is based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin... but operates across the US and globally too. The Water Council is a similar "hub" sector organisation to British Water, so Karen is perfectly placed to give valuable insights and analysis.
Anna Kummestedt (a young professional and recent joiner at British Water) stands in for usual co-host Perminder Atwal for this episode. Anna joined the conversation from a conference so there is some background noise on her contributions.