Kishia L. Powell

Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President, DC Water

Kishia L. Powell

Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President, DC Water

Biography

Kishia L. Powell joined DC Water in May 2020 and serves as the Authority’s Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President, overseeing all operating departments, including Engineering, Water and Sewer Operations, Wastewater Operations, Customer Care, IT and the Shared Services cluster. Her responsibilities include oversight of more than $400M in operating budget and delivery of the Authority’s $6.4 billion capital improvement program. She serves as the executive champion for development of DC Water’s Clean Energy project portfolio. Ms. Powell came to DC Water from her previous role as Commissioner of the City of Atlanta’s Department of Watershed Management, where she had served since June 2016. As a Global Water Leader, she led the City of Atlanta’s Department of Watershed Management to recognition in the inaugural class of Leading Utilities of the World during the Global Water Summit in Madrid, Spain in April 2017. With expertise in water equity, sustainable infrastructure management and utility operations, she has leveraged 25 years of experience in both the public and private sectors to successfully serve municipalities across the United States and London, England.   

In 2018, Ms. Powell was nominated for the Center for Servant Leadership/Turknett Group Leadership Character Award; and she received the Pacesetter Award from the National Association of Minority Contractors. In 2019 and 2020 she was recognized as one of Georgia’s Top 100 Influential Women in Engineering Georgia Magazine and received the WaterNow Alliance’s 2019 Impact Award for leadership in closing the country’s first publicly offered Environmental Impact Bond. In 2021, she testified before both the Senate and the House of Representatives on the importance of water infrastructure funding in support of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Climate Resilience. Now in 2022, Ms. Powell has been recognized as one of the 100 top COO’s in the Country. 

On behalf of DC Water, Ms. Powell serves as the President of the National Association of Clean Water Agencies, representing more than 340 utilities across the country. Ms. Powell is a licensed Professional Engineer in the District of Columbia, Virginia and Maryland. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Morgan State University’s Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr. School of Engineering. Throughout her career she has maintained a strong sense of ethics and has distinguished herself as a leader, blending global reach, local knowledge, strategic thinking, and technical excellence to deliver sound solutions.