Wilniesha Smith: Mentoring the Next Generation in Green Infrastructure Jobs

Meet Wilniesha. She’s administrative coordinator for the nonprofit Reflo, headquartered just down the road from E. Greenfield Avenue in Walker’s Point inside the Arts @ Large Community Center on S. 5th Street. After earning a degree in environmental health water quality technology from Milwaukee Area Technical College and three summers interning with the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, Wilniesha joined Reflo in 2017.

Green infrastructure—nature-inspired systems like rain gardens, bioswales, or cisterns that capture, hold, and manage water where it falls—is at the heart of Wilniesha’s career. Her work is all about water, though we see the impact in the urban landscape and in the experiences of youth she mentors.

With Reflo, Wilniesha supports projects ranging from designing and building green infrastructure at schoolyard redevelopments to guiding high school interns who gain hands-on experience with skills and trades tied to green infrastructure career pathways.

“When you open someone’s eyes up to the different careers, the different aspects, why do we need green infrastructure. And they’re like, oh yeah, I didn’t think of it that way—Seeing the lightbulb go on when you’re talking to people,” Wilniesha reflects, “is like the best part for me.”

Gary Ballesteros: Being a Good Corporate Water Neighbor

Meet Gary. A vice president at Rockwell Automation, Gary also serves on the board of directors at Harbor District, Inc. and has taught as an adjunct professor at the UW-Milwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences. Rockwell was an early adopter of what is now The Water Council. When it was first created, Gary served as Rockwell’s representative. “We viewed that as a very sensible alliance between academics and government and industry coming together all centered here in Milwaukee to help us create a water hub of expertise and a center of excellence for water quality,” Gary says. Rockwell itself serves industrial customers in the global water sector. “One of the beauties of Rockwell products is that we can sell them to a wide variety of customers,” he says. “They are used to control industrial processes. So we sell our products from customers as varied as Disney World or Broadway shows to mechanize the movement of amusements. And, in a similar vein, they can be used for oil & gas or automotive plants. You name it.” Rockwell has built up expertise in water and wastewater systems. “We have developed a core team of engineers who are knowledgeable about the industry of water how to clean it, how to desalinize it—if you are using saltwater—how to measure it for pressure, quality, quantity, etc.”

Majo Thurman: Minding Rockwell’s Environmental Sustainability

Meet Majo. She’s director of environment, health & safety for Rockwell Automation, a global corporation headquartered right in Milwaukee. She started as an environmental engineer for the Milwaukee location in 1990, and she has served as director for over 15 years. Majo and her team are focused on providing a safe place to work for Rockwell’s thousands of employees and maintaining compliance with occupational safety and environmental rules and regulations. Increasingly this has included practices related to environmental sustainability. You may not know it from walking along the street beneath the historic Allen-Bradley clocktower, but in 2010 Rockwell installed a green roof on top of the eighth floor of the building to the west of S. 2nd Street. Supported by the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) and motivated by doing their part to improve Milwaukee’s water quality, Rockwell’s green roof slows and absorbs stormwater that can otherwise contribute to sewer overflows during heavy rains that threaten to overwhelm the system. At 49,000 square feet and designed to capture a million gallons of stormwater per year, Majo says this symbol of sustainability is the largest single-level green roof in the state of Wisconsin.

Sadhna Morato-Lindvall: Sharing Rockwell Automation’s Story

Meet Sadhna. A spokesperson for Rockwell Automation, she explains that the company’s purpose is “to connect the imagination of people with the potential of technology.” The company’s promise is to “expand human possibility,” and Rockwell does this by providing technical and automation control solutions to a variety of industries across the planet.

Originally founded in 1903 as the Allen-Bradley Corporation, today Rockwell counts over 23,500 employees spanning over a hundred countries. But the headquarters for this global firm (46% of sales are international) remains right here in Milwaukee’s clocktower building in Walker’s Point and the Harbor District.

Many people may wonder just who and what are inside Rockwell’s historic clocktower building. “Inside, our building is filled with innovators, problem solvers, builders, and makers,” Sadhna says. “They all have a passion for technology and innovation and believe our world can work better.” Today, the iconic clocktower building is mostly an office building, though there is still a high-tech, light industrial assembly line dubbed the Milwaukee Line, where Rockwell leverages some of the most advanced tools in automation to create products and showcase use for clients.

Milwaukeeans may be surprised to discover that Rockwell technology is hidden in plain sight behind some cherished local landmarks. Sadhna explains that Rockwell technology and tools power the “wings” of the Santiago Calatrava Brise Soleil of the Milwaukee Art Museum, move the movable roof panels at Milwaukee’s Major League Baseball stadium, and even control the temperature of the ice rink at the Pettit National Ice Center.