David Crawford
FOUNDER AND CEO OF RAINWATER MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS

David Crawford, founder and CEO of Rainwater Management Solutions, worked in healthcare for many years prior to forming RMS. It was there that he recognized large commercial laundries used a significant amount of water each day cleaning hospital linens. Concerned by the inefficiency of utilizing drinking water in such commercial and residential settings, Crawford became an outspoken advocate for water conservation and management. His interest in these endeavors led him to research methods for conserving drinking water by utilizing available rainwater, laying the groundwork for his now significant contributions in the fields of rainwater harvesting and sustainable water management practices.

In 1999, Crawford created a prototype rain barrel for rainwater collection using empty laundry soap barrels. After refinements and experimentation, he succeeded in creating a system that worked for rainwater harvesting. He advertised the system at a home show and, as a result, sold several residential home systems.

RMS has since evolved from the rain barrel days into an industry-leading supplier, system integrator, and professional services firm specializing in turnkey solutions for rainwater and stormwater management. Its knowledgeable staff boasts more than 100 years of combined experience in the rainwater harvesting business, providing professional design and consulting services for clients’ residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural projects.

As water conservation and management become increasingly urgent concerns worldwide due to intensified water shortages, rapid population growth, aging infrastructure and the effects of global climate change, RMS is leading the charge to make rainwater catchment a viable and life-renewing solution in the face of these issues.

For introducing and championing a commonsense, cost-effective approach to addressing the escalating issue of water conservation and management through innovative rainwater harvesting system designs, IAPMO is pleased to present David Crawford with the 2024 Joseph Kneidinger Sustainability Professional of the Year Award.

Stephanie Tanner

Stephanie Tanner is lead engineer at the U.S EPA’s WaterSense program.

Stephanie’s professionalism is clear to all who have worked with her. She listens to all stakeholders carefully and takes the time to ensure that the WaterSense program maintains its outstanding level of credibility throughout the process.

She has worked closely with the major organizations that develop standards for the products that fall under the scope of WaterSense specifications and has worked to ensure that the specifications and product standards are complimentary.

Stephanie has demonstrated strong leadership, patience, and the ability to develop technical provisions for the WaterSense program that expertly balance the needs of the manufacturing and the environmental communities.

It’s through those efforts that WaterSense has provided a strong incentive for manufacturers to develop new and innovative water efficient products.

The results speak for themselves.

The success of the WaterSense program has made a significant impact on improving the efficiency of plumbing products, appliances, irrigation equipment and other products.

At the same time, the specifications help to ensure that product performance does not suffer and customer satisfaction with the program is high.

WaterSense listings are required to sell products in many wholesale and retail companies and are now mandated in many areas of the country that are dealing with water scarcity or other water related problems.

These efficiencies not only save water but also save government and private sector expenditures, allowing existing water assets to remain functional.

IAPMO has been an enthusiastic advocate for WaterSense from the start and participated in the development of each new product category it has introduced to the program.

For her exceptional leadership on one of the most successful federal conservation programs in the history of our industry, we are pleased to honor Stephanie Tanner as the 2023 Joseph Kneidinger Sustainability Professional of the Year.

Doug Bennett

Doug Bennett’s water career launched more than 40 years ago as a high school student digging ditches and assembling PVC irrigation piping for a landscape company. At the time, he had no idea this grueling job was his first step on a lifelong career path in water management.

After attaining a bachelor’s degree in agriculture in 1986, Bennett became an urban horticulturist for New Mexico State University. Among his pet projects was teaching a new concept called “xeriscaping,” which was an integrated approach to water efficiency in urban landscapes.

In 1995, Bennett joined the city of Albuquerque conservation program, where his skill sets diversified from landscape and irrigation into plumbing fixtures, appliances and water-use compliance enforcement. It was here that he got his first taste of writing, adopting, and enforcing municipal code.

In 2000, Bennett became conservation manager for the Southern Nevada Water Authority, the regional water agency for the Las Vegas metro area. At the time, the city’s principal water supply, the Colorado River, was in a period of abundance. As Bennett pulled his U-Haul trailer across Hoover Dam, the water was just a dozen feet from spilling over. Within 24 months, however, all that would change.

In 2002, the Colorado River flowed at just one-fourth of normal, forcing Southern Nevada to make radical changes in water use. Bennett implemented water use compliance measures and established the nation’s most aggressive landscape conversion program. He developed the nation’s first large-scale program to develop water-efficient homes to help address the rapidly growing community’s need for housing. 

Bennett has been an IAPMO member since 2010 and has worked in concert with IAPMO to develop water efficient plumbing standards, including those used by the EPA WaterSense Program and IAPMO’s WE-Stand. His agency partnered with IAPMO on the Plumbing Efficiency Research Coalition studies, which documented the performance of high efficiency toilets in non-residential structures. In 2008, he developed the world’s largest conference on urban water efficiency, WaterSmart Innovations, partnering with IAPMO and other highly respected organizations to ensure it was the premiere event of its kind.

For continually advancing the fact that preserving the environment is indeed an integral aspect of the public health and safety we are dedicated to protecting, IAPMO thanks Doug Bennett by honoring him as the 2022 recipient of the Joseph Kneidinger Sustainability Professional of the Year Award.

Jim Kendzel 

Jim Kendzel has spent almost the entirety of his career devoted to the development of codes and standards, with the intent that they have a positive impact not only on public health, but equally so for the environment. Accordingly, his involvement in sustainable activities has paralleled his code development work every step along the way. A graduate of Bowling Green State University with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Health and later a Master of Public Health with a focus on Environmental Health from the University of Michigan, Kendzel serves as director of Codes and Standards for the American Supply Association, the leading U.S. trade association representing wholesalers, distributors, manufacturers and manufacturer representatives in the plumbing and industrial pipe/valve/fitting markets. Prior to joining ASA, he served as executive director and CEO of ASPE, executive director for Credentialing Excellence, and senior vice president, administration, at NSF International.

With more than 40 years of experience in leadership roles associated with standards development, quality systems management and product and personnel certification, Kendzel backs up his environmental  advocacy with vast institutional knowledge, making him an incredibly effective member on any committee on which he serves. We have been extremely fortunate to have his uniquely informed perspective on the  Water Efficiency and Sanitation Standard Technical Committee, including as chairman of the WESStand Alternate Water Source Task Group.

Kendzel’s volunteer work further extends to such organizations as ANSI, ASTM International, the Alliance for Water Efficiency, the National Institute of Building Sciences, Green Building Initiative and the International Organization for Standardization.

For continually advancing the fact that preserving the environment is indeed an integral aspect of the public health and safety we are dedicated to protecting, IAPMO thanks Jim Kendzel by honoring him as the 2021 recipient of the Joseph Kneidinger Sustainability Professional of the Year Award.

“I’m still a bit overwhelmed that the IAPMO leadership decided to honor me this year with the Joseph Kneidinger Sustainability Professional award,” Kendzel said. “According to the United Nation’s Commission on Environment and Development, environmental sustainability is about acting in a way that ensures future generations have the natural resources available to live an equal, or even better, way of life as current generations. I could not agree more with that statement. “I accept this award on behalf of my children and grandchildren in the hope that I have acted in a way to ensure our future generations have the natural resources available to live, and I commit to them that I will continue to fight for them.”

Mary Ann Dickinson has dedicated her career, more than four decades worth, to the conservation of our most vital natural resource: water. Through advocacy, research, legislation, code development, publishing and even film production, Dickinson has provided one of the strongest and most respected voices in North America on the efficient and sustainable use of water.

As president and CEO of the Alliance for Water Efficiency, Dickinson leads the non-profit’s work with more than 500 water utilities, water conservation professionals, planners, regulators and consumers seeking ways to limit water usage in both traditional and innovative ways. Driven by a belief that using water efficiently saves money, preserves the environment and helps communities thrive, the Alliance focuses on seven key tasks:
- Stand as a clear and authoritative voice for water efficiency
- Provide comprehensive information about which programs and products work and which don’t
- Represent the interest of water efficiency in the development of codes and standards
- Transform the market for fixtures and appliances
- Coordinate with green building initiatives to institutionalize water efficiency
- Train water conservation professionals
- And educate water users

In 2014, the Alliance won the U.S. Water Prize in the non-profit category for this work.

Dickinson and the Alliance have partnered with IAPMO to produce the Emerging Water Technology Symposium every other year since the inaugural event in 2008.

She also served as the executive director of the California Water Efficiency Partnership based in Sacramento, California, which continues the historical work of the California Urban Water Conservation Council, a non-profit that managed the United States’ first set of best management practices.

During her four decades at the forefront of water efficiency, Dickinson has worked at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority, and the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection. A graduate of the University of Connecticut with a degree in environmental planning, Dickinson has authored numerous publications on water conservation, land use planning, and natural resources management, and has co-produced two films, which have aired on public television and community cable stations.

Not everyone described as an authority or subject matter expert truly qualifies for the distinction. When you’re talking about water efficiency,  however, there is no doubt Dickinson fits the bill.

“I really want to thank IAPMO for this honor, it’s such a pleasure to work with this organization,” Dickinson said. “The first person I saw when I came in this morning was Bill Erickson and we had a nice chat about what it’s like to be old these days, have experience and wonder if it’s relevant. I think what I’ve learned over my four decades is that the enthusiasm of my youth, my 20s and 30s, I was going to slay dragons; I was going to change the world. And as I got older, more seasoned and more experienced, I realized it has to be done with a practical eye toward what is really possible, what is really implementable; what isn’t going to sacrifice public health; what is going to be done in a consensus basis rather than adversarial.

“IAPMO has been a partner with the Alliance for Water Efficiency throughout this process. Pete DeMarco is our Board chair, we are very
proud of that. And we are very proud of the long association we have had with your organization, so thank you for this honor.”

Amir Tabakh is well known to most of us here today. As one of the most proudly vocal supporters of IAPMO’s work, in the biggest metropolitan area in the nation governed by the Uniform Codes, his influence carries a lot of weight not only in the City of Angels, but all over the world. But it is Tabakh’s passion to promote sustainability and a nexus between water, energy, and CO₂ emissions that truly sets him apart.

A graduate of San Diego State University holding a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Tabakh was hired by the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety in 1985, where he managed construction activities for high- and low-rise structures where they concerned HVAC, plumbing, fire protection, and elevators. Starting in 1999, he added the additional responsibility of serving as director of LADBS’ Mechanical Testing Laboratories.

During this time, Tabakh served as Chair of the Plumbing Technical Advisory Committee and led the code adoptions for the city of Los Angeles, also working with the California Seismic Commission and SoCal Gas on safety issues related to buildings and seismic gas shutoff valves.

Simultaneously, Tabakh began serving on numerous IAPMO committees, including the UPC Technical Committee, the Product Certification and Standards Review Committee, and the Green Plumbing and Mechanical Code Supplement Committee, currently the WE-Stand Committee.

Ten years ago, Tabakh joined the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power as the Director of Environmental Engineering, immediately implementing the most aggressive water efficient plumbing fixtures ordinance in the United States. In support of the new regulations, he led the retrofitting of more than 600 LADWP owned buildings through a partnership between the department and United Association plumbers. These changes will result in water savings amounting to two billion dollars over 20 years.

In 2012, Tabakh was promoted to Chief of Energy Efficiency Engineering and two years ago promoted again to be manager of LADWP’s La Kretz Labs and Energy Efficiency Solutions Engineering.

An ecosystem created for companies in the clean technology space, the La Kretz Innovation Campus engages entrepreneurs, inventors, business leaders, and students to work together in one environment. The campus features LADWP laboratories for both customer engagement and energy efficiency and technology.

La Kretz staff worked in collaboration with IAPMO to establish the Water Conservation Demonstration Lab, where manufacturers, customers, utilities, developers, conservation organizations, universities and government entities can perform technology assessments, demonstrations, outreach and educational activities. Here the industry, IAPMO, and LADWP work together to develop the next generation of high efficiency innovations. Tabakh is the man who made that happen.

For making water conservation the central focus of what has been and continues to be a powerfully inspirational career in our trade, IAPMO is pleased to present Amir Tabakh with the 2018 Joseph Kneidinger Green Professional of the Year Award.

“About 10 years ago, I shifted from Building and Safety to Water and Power; not because I don’t care about public health and safety, but because I feel our country is in trouble,” Tabakh said. “We need to save water and energy, and understand the nexus between them.

“I helped develop the Green Plumbing and Mechanical Supplement, now WE-Stand, and that is the document I used, I cut and pasted, for Los Angeles. Our partnership is going to continue under the leadership of Russ Chaney and IAPMO. It is an honor to receive this award and God bless you all.”

Arnie Rodio says he has lived his entire life — including his 37-year career as a licensed contractor — by one guiding principle: Leave the place better than you find it.

It’s a motto that influences his works and deeds, such as serving as a Scout Leader for decades or his contributions to programs like PHCC’s Copper for Kids, but also very much strikes a tangible chord in how he runs his business, Pace Setter Plumbing.

While new efficiency promoting technologies are a big part of any green business, Rodio says running an environmentally conscious organization is about more than just gadgets.

“Most of it has to do with attitude. There’s more to this industry than making a buck,” he says. Rodio says he’s discovered that if you’re socially conscious, and present green alternatives to customers with honesty and sincerity, the money takes care of itself.

For Pace Setter Plumbing, green isn’t treated as one way to do a job — it’s the best way to do it. Working with Southern California Homeowners Associations in the midst of a historic drought, Rodio demonstrates how something as simple as sub-metering multiunit structures not only saves water, because the water line is now split rather than serving the whole building all at once, but users now consciously restrict their water use as a result of knowing what they are using. Water use drops 30 percent, but the customers’ bills decrease by 40-45 percent because their pricing tier also adjusts downward.

“You don’t make money on it, but if you do it right you don’t lose money — and it doesn’t wind up in the landfills,” he says.

In his various roles over the years with IAPMO and our industry peers, Rodio has been instrumental in bringing the Green Plumbers program from Australia to the United States, the addition of photovoltaic systems to the Uniform Solar Energy and Hydronics Code, and the afore mentioned Copper for Kids program, which takes the proceeds from recycled copper to fund the counseling and fees necessary to transition children from foster care into permanent homes.

Arnie Rodio is a familiar face to many of us who have served with him on numerous code committees over his decades of service to IAPMO. He was the recipient of our 2008 American Flag Award and is every bit as worthy of this honor as he was then. For helping to leave IAPMO, our industry, and our planet better than he found them, IAPMO recognizes Arnie Rodio as the 2017 Green Professional of the Year.

“One person I’d really like to thank is my wife, Lynell,” he said. “She’s stood beside me all this time; it’s got to be tough standing by someone who every time you go somewhere he’s looking at the plumbing. So, I’d like to say a special thanks and I love you.

“You know, I’m in IAPMO because I’m kind of selfish — because I get a lot more out of it than I ever put into it. So many friends, so many people sharing their knowledge and helping, it’s been a joy working with you all. And you’re going to be stuck with me for a long time. Thank you.”

Bill Hoffman is as powerful a voice as there is in our industry when it comes to water scarcity, our desperate need to conserve, and presenting viable, progressive solutions to the problem. A native Texan, Hoffman has dedicated his career, nearly 50 years, to the water industry, and his expertise is invaluable to the numerous utilities, governments, businesses, and organizations to which he offers it.

As Assistant Director for Water Resource Planning for the Texas Water Development Board, Hoffman implemented that agency’s urban and industrial water conservation programs and supervised water reuse, desalinization, and alternate sources programs. At various times, he was also in charge of developing future water use projections for the commercial and industrial sectors based on changes in water efficiency, and examining the implications of conservation on future water use trends.

He also worked for seven years at the city of Austin Water Utility, where he as supervisor of institutional, commercial, and industrial water conservation programs, again charged with predicting the impact conservation and changing water use technologies would have on future water use.

Now a consultant as president of H.W. Hoffman & Associates, Hoffman works with everything from local utilities to state governments to assist their development of effective industrial water conservation programs.

He serves on numerous national water efficiency standards and codes committees, including IAPMO’s Water Efficiency and Sanitation Standard, also known as WE•Stand, technical committee, and was an original member of the Green Technical Committee that preceded it. He has authored numerous articles, white papers, and books on water efficiency and was on the team to develop a Best Management Practices Guide for the U.S. EPA’s WaterSense program. And he was a featured speaker at each of the International Emerging Technology Symposiums.

To honor and recognize his immeasurable contribution to one of the most important and pressing issues of our time, water conservation, it is our pleasure to present Bill Hoffman with IAPMO’s 2016 Joseph Kneidinger Green Professional of the Year Award.

“I do take this honor with great dignity. I appreciate it so much,” Hoffman said. “And just one comment to the younger people here; this is my 50th year in engineering and I never dreamed 50 years ago I might be standing here. You will be doing things that you never thought you’d do, but never quit. Thank you so much.”

It’s difficult to choose where to begin when acknowledging the long list of credentials and accomplishments that qualify John Koeller as the recipient of the 2015 IAPMO Green Professional of the Year Award.

A registered professional engineer, Koeller, as principal of Koeller & Company, is water authorities and private sector firms and is a technical advisor to the International Alliance for Water Efficiency. He is the co-developer of Maximum Performance testing for water-efficient products, an initiative designed to raise the bar on product performance and long term reliability.

A member of six different ANSI U.S. national plumbing standards committees, where he represents the water utilities’ efficiency interests, Koeller is the past vice-chair of the LEED Water Efficiency Technical Advisory Group for the U.S. Green Building Council. Since 2006, he has been an advisor consultant to the U.S. EPA’s WaterSense^® program, for which he evaluates and recommends the latest product designs and technologies for future labeling by the program.

Koeller has worked integrally with various IAPMO business units for decades, including the IAPMO Standards and Code Development departments, IAPMO R&T Lab, and in the development of codes and standards provisions and test requirements specific to water efficient products.

His work is truly as far reaching in the world of green plumbing as any individual can likely claim, making John Koeller a most deserving recipient of IAPMO’s 2015 Green Professional of the Year.

“I’d just like to say a special thank you to IAPMO,” Koeller said, “because it’s IAPMO that in the year 2000, through IAPMO R&T, that the WaterSense^® process began. Through cooperation with IAPMO R&T Lab, we began to develop specifications for the city of Los Angeles that ultimately ended up being the foundation stone for the U.S. EPA’s program. So, thank you to IAPMO, IAPMO R&T, and all of you.”

It’s not uncommon to refer to someone as being full of hot air. The recipient of this year’s Joseph Kneidinger Green Professional of the Year Award, however, is full of hot water.

For more than two decades, Gary Klein, president of Gary Klein & Associates, has been perhaps the most recognized name in the industry when it comes to the efficient delivery of hot water in residential and commercial buildings.

After graduating from Cornell in 1975 with a Bachelor’s degree in Technology and Society concentrating on Energy Conservation, Efficiency and Environmentally Appropriate Technologies — an independent major for which he actually developed the criteria himself — Klein went to Lesotho in Africa for a six-month research project that wound up lasting seven years, working in rural villages on self-sustaining structures to improve household energy use.

A highlight of his work in Africa was the 1982 building of what would today meet the standards of a modern green home. It featured off-the-grid solar electric power, no mechanical heating or air conditioning, rainwater catchment, graywater separation,  local building materials — things that today are still perceived as difficult or inconvenient.

After returning to the United States, Klein relocated to California in 1989 and at one time held three different jobs with the state’s energy commission, one of which got him into the hot water arena.

In the early 1990s, he received a call from a colleague asking him how long does it take to get hot water from his home’s water heater to the fixtures. He didn’t think much of the request at the time, but the friend persisted for months so Klein eventually did the test just to get him to stop asking.

He measured 4 gallons in four minutes waiting for hot water to arrive at his showerhead. The math didn’t seem to add up for him.  He started calling friends and asking them to do the same test. He discovered that it was getting worse, not better, as the houses became newer. In 1996, Klein nominated himself to tackle this issue.

The following year he held his first water forum, addressing 25 industry colleagues as they discussed hot water as a system. Klein estimates that to date he has spoken to more than 30,000 people about hot water since.

In the mid-2000s, Klein realized the best way to implement his hot water delivery solution was through minimum codes. He submitted numerous proposals toward the 2009 Uniform Plumbing Code and, to use his own words, “took his lumps.” But IAPMO’s Dave Viola was intrigued by Klein’s ideas and invited him to be an inaugural member of the Green Technical Committee as it worked toward the development of the IAPMO Green Plumbing and Mechanical Code Supplement.

His fingerprints may now be seen all over the hot water provisions of that code and his reputation has afforded him opportunities to influence efficiency policy nationwide, either as a public speaker, which he does frequently, or by working with such organizations as ASHRAE, LEED and the National Green Building Standard.

A little more than 10 years ago, Klein published his hot water theories in a series of articles in IAPMO’s Official magazine. This was before practically any research on the topic of hot water as a system had been completed. A decade later, independent research has thoroughly backed up his theories and they are being implemented with steadily increasing frequency.

For his foresight and stalwart leadership in the vitally important nexus between water and energy, IAPMO is proud to present Gary Klein with the 2014 Joseph Kneidinger Green Professional of the Year Award.

“It’s truly and honor to receive this award,” Klein said. “I was very surprised when I was told I was going to receive it.

“I am not a long-term member of this industry. I first met IAPMO in 2006 in preparation for the 2009 codes. I was clearly an outsider, and as was just mentioned I submitted several proposals, not one of which had a prayer. I’ve been trying to work to improve hot water distribution systems for 20 years now. They work; hot water eventually shows up, just not very efficiently. My goal for many years has been to make it an efficient delivery system so that, in fact, when you turn on the tap hot water arrives pretty darn quick; my goal is waiting no more than one cup. We can build them, within the code — safe, healthy, working, efficient systems.

So, I want to thank IAPMO for giving me this award, for the recognition of my peers. I look forward to working with you all for many years to come."

Anybody wondering just how constructive the work of IAPMO’s Green Technical Committee has been in promoting sustainable practices among plumbing contractors should look no further than the recipient of this year’s Joseph Kneidinger Green Contractor of the Year Award.

The fact Bill Erickson has actually been a rather pivotal member of the committee since its inception only further demonstrates this success.

Created in 2007 by the IAPMO Board of Directors for the purposes of making the Uniform Codes more sustainable and creating a supplemental document as a clearinghouse for all ongoing and future areas of sustainable opportunity, the Green Technical Committee has far exceeded expectations. To date, it has developed two editions of the IAPMO Green Plumbing and Mechanical Supplement, which has also been recreated for India, and succeeded in adding a great deal of language to the Uniform Plumbing and Mechanical codes themselves.

A licensed plumber for more than 40 years and CEO of his family’s plumbing company, Erickson was selected to lead this impressive, but potentially volatile group of individuals toward a mutual goal. At the time he was an enthusiastic, yet passive supporter of sustainable practices. He believed in the work, but wasn’t necessarily leading by example.

During his five years as chairman of the committee, however, Erickson’s eyes were opened to a world of both possibility and necessity. His days as a passive observer screeched to a quick halt.

As the inaugural chairman, Erickson presided over a collection of strongly differing personalities, points of view and agendas. Fostering a delicate balance between traditionally at odds groups — contractors and labor, environmental folk and manufacturers — requires both gravitas and levity. Erickson skillfully brought both. He guided them to consensus without dragging them there, mixing professionalism and diplomacy with a self-deprecating style that kept egos in check.

When all was said and done, Erickson couldn’t help but be profoundly moved by the importance of the committee’s work. He is now an outspoken advocate for sustainable practices within our industry and has an insatiable thirst for all things related to the conservation of water.

IAPMO thanks this man for his enthusiastic leadership and dedication to sustainable plumbing and mechanical practices by honoring Bill Erickson with the 2013 Joseph Kneidinger Green Contractor of the Year Award.

“I’m honored to be honored and I humbly accept it,” Erickson said. “I’d like to think that this experiment that IAPMO did a number of years ago of bringing contractors into the board of directors was successful.

“I learned something from being a businessman that has done very well for me, I learned that I never had to be the smartest man in the room. On the Green Technical Committee, the room was full of smart people, and I think my biggest trick was to give them permission to cooperate with each other. It was a labor of love and I just enjoyed the heck out of it. I’m just going to keep coming back; this is family to me and you have a great family here at IAPMO.

“Going forward, there’s so much work that has to be done. With the MCAA contractors and the PHCC contractors, along with our labor partners, I think we will be well positioned to take advantage of the opportunities in the future to provide safe water and sanitation for our grandchildren. That’s what I hope to be a part of going forward. Thank you very much.”