Milwaukee-based global water innovation hub The Water Council has made changes to its board, including appointing a new chairman.
Michael Best & Friedrich LLP partner Scott Beightol is the organization's new board chair, The Water Council announced Monday.
Beightol succeeds A. O. Smith Corp. executive vice president Jim Stern as head of The Water Council's board. Stern was appointed chairman in January 2019 and will continue to serve on the board and lead its water stewardship committee.
The Water Council also appointed University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Chancellor Mark Mone as its board treasurer. Badger Meter president and CEO Ken Bockhorst will remain the board's vice chairman.
Michael Best & Friedrich serves as The Water Council's general counsel. Beightol leads the Milwaukee law firm's water industry group and was elected to The Water Council's board in 2018. He also chairs the board of Milwaukee's United Performing Arts Fund.
Beightol takes the helm of The Water Council's board as the organization is in the process of competing for a federal grant that could result in up to $160 million to build southeast Wisconsin into an innovation hub for water and energy resilience.
Last year, The Water Council was awarded a two-year, $1 million development grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation's Regional Innovation Engines program. That award supports the organization's effort to compete for the larger grant of up to $160 million over 10 years — an amount The Water Council CEO Dean Amhaus said would be "transformational for the region."
