If you’ve attended one of my presentations or explored the Nephros Water Institute, you know a little about my work. If you’ve also seen my LinkedIn profile, you may have wondered how someone with a bachelor’s degree in industrial design wound up leading water safety education and business development at a water filtration company.

Fair question, as I have often wondered the same thing. Though there is a thread, I promise. And after quite a bit of reflection, I think I’ve found it: a persistent need to understand why… and a tendency for every answer to give me several more questions. I go down a lot of rabbit holes.

That curiosity drives a lot of reading, research, and continued training. Once I understand an underlying problem, I can start recognizing patterns, connecting information, and working out what those connections mean. It’s how I approach both an unfamiliar subject and a business decision.

When I’m developing education around a technical standard, for example, I want to understand what made it necessary.

What was being missed? What factors contributed to the problems that prompted the standard? Which points matter most to the people tasked with implementation? What do its expectations mean for their responsibilities, goals, and everyday work?

These questions help me translate dense, complex material into practical information people can use, rather than simply walking them through its contents.

And that industrial design education that seems so out of place? It’s what first taught me how to put that sometimes annoying “but why” attitude into action and develop solutions. At its core, industrial design is about problem-solving. It gave me an early foundation in investigating challenges and identifying people’s needs and pain points. Later work in information design and branding sharpened my ability to make complex information understandable, establish a hierarchy of messages, develop frameworks, and connect ideas to broader business goals.

Putting Curiosity to Work at Nephros

Conversations and field meetings with customers and partners brought me closer to the challenges facilities face. Research, formal water safety training, ASSE 12080 certification, and participation in ASHRAE standards development have further contributed to the subject matter expertise I draw on today.

I joined Nephros because I wanted to have an impact. I was brought in to help build the marketing department and lead a full rebrand, including defining our “why” and establishing education as a core driver of our work. The reasoning was simple: people need to understand a problem before they can appreciate the value of a solution.

That thinking continues to guide how I set commercial strategy, identify and develop markets, and equip a sales team. It also underpins the Nephros Water Institute.

What keeps me interested is the opportunity to figure something out. What makes it rewarding is turning that understanding into something useful, whether a clearer decision, a practical next step, or a possibility we hadn’t recognized before. There is always another question. Fortunately, that seems to suit me.