CONFERENCE KEYNOTES & SPEAKERS
Monday Plenary Speaker
Tanya Trujillo
Water Lawyer
U.S. Department of the Interior
Tanya Trujillo is a water lawyer with more than 20 years of experience working on complex natural resources management issues and interstate and transboundary water agreements. She most recently worked as a project director with the Colorado River Sustainability Campaign. Before then, she served as the Executive Director of the Colorado River Board of California. She has served as Senior Counsel to the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and as Counselor to the Assistant Secretary for Water and Science at Interior. A native New Mexican, Tanya attended Stanford University and the University of Iowa College of Law.
Tuesday Plenary Speakers
Rachelle Dillon MPlan
Senior Planner, Associate
O2 Planning & Design
Rachelle is an urban planner with over 15 years of experience leading and crafting plans and strategies across Canada and in Australia. Rachelle is interested in how the different facets of city building interact to create welcoming, healthy, dynamic, and resilient communities. This interest is anchored in her experience in many different planning disciplines, including mobility, open space, urban design, flood resiliency, heritage protection, land use and strategic growth planning. In recent years, Rachelle has focused on integrating water management considerations into her practice both while leading a team of planners and engineers for the City of Calgary’s Water Resource’s department and as an associate with O2.
Rachelle holds a Master of Planning degree (Dalhousie University), a Bachelor of Arts in Art History degree (University of Calgary) and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology degree (University of Calgary). Rachelle has completed additional training in real estate development at the University of Calgary, graphic design at the Alberta University of the Arts, Indigenous history at the University of Alberta and public engagement through the International Association of Public Participation.
Sarah Marshall
Water Resources Planner
City of Calgary
Sarah Marshall is a community and environmental planner driven to help shape resilient and equitable communities in response to complex social-ecological challenges. She works as a Water Resources Planner with The City of Calgary, bringing over 7 years’ experience with projects related to integrated water management and climate resilience. Her work has spanned research, education and outreach and planning projects related to water efficiency, riparian management, drought resilience and flood policy. She enjoys bridging research and practice and seeks to bring an ethic of continuous learning to her work - particularly around nature-based approaches and reconciliation and decolonization in planning and policy.
Sarah holds a Master of Community and Regional Planning degree (University of British Columbia) as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Geography (University of Victoria).
Harpreet Sandhu
Leader, Environmental Planning and Policy
City of Calgary
Harpreet Sandhu is the Leader of Environment Planning and Policy for the City of Calgary, Alberta Canada. Her responsibilities include leading the development of strategic water management and environment plans and policies in the areas of flood resiliency, source water protection, riparian protection, drought management and water security—all areas of work that are closely integrated with municipal land use planning decisions. She was previously the Director of Planning and Community Development for Skamania County, Washington, where she was responsible for various land use and watershed planning functions including salmon recovery efforts along the lower Columbia River.
Harpreet is a Steering Committee member of the American Planning Association’s Water and Planning Network and has recently completed certification from the University of British Columbia in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) and has obtained an Anti-Racism Certificate of Excellence. Incorporating principles of truth and reconciliation, equity and social justice in land use planning and water management are her priorities in the next 5 years.