20 SOURCE summer 2013
milestones
News For and About the CA-NV AWWA Community
Derek Kawaii
Jim Barrett
Brian Dickinson is new Operations
Director at Elsinore Valley MWD. Brian
Dickinson is the new Director of Operations
at the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District,
where he will oversee the water, wastewater,
and maintenance divisions. Dickinson has
been Operations Manager with the Chino
Desalter Authority and has served as GM of
the Valley County Water District and GM of
Utilities at the City of Alhambra. His B.S. in
Public Administration is from the University of
La Verne and he is fluent in Spanish.
Kawaii Named Western Municipal Water
District Engineering Director. Derek
Kawaii was recently named Western MWD
Director of Engineering. Kawaii has been
Principal Engineer for the past seven years
and has recently served as Interim Director of
Engineering. He has served as Senior Engineer
at AECOM (formerly Boyle Engineering
Corporation) and Applications Development
Project Manager at Parsons Brinckerhoff (formerly
Associated Engineers). He has also
taught water and Construction Management at
University of California’s Riverside Extension,
Mt. San Jacinto Community College and San
Bernardino Valley College.
Jim Barrett New Coachella Valley Water
District GM. The Coachella Valley Water
District Board of Directors has unanimously
named Jim Barrett its new General Manager/
Chief Engineer. Barrett joined CVWD in
March 2010 as Assistant General Manager
and became Acting General Manager in May
2012. Previously he was Director of Public
Utilities for the City of San Diego and he
has also served on the board of directors
of Metropolitan Water District of Southern
California and San Diego County Water
Authority. He retired from the U.S. Navy in
2004 as commanding officer of Navy Public
Works in San Diego.