Employee Spotlight: Awards Roundup!

This month – instead of spotlighting just one employee – PWSA will highlight eight employees who were awarded a variety of honors for excellence in their respective fields. Let’s get to know a bit more about each awardee.
From left: Tishla Jones (Customer Service Manager), Tracy Willy (Senior AMI and Billing Manager), Brittany Schacht (Senior PUC Compliance Manager), Sharon Gottschalk (Senior Collections Manager), and Crystal Thurston (AMI and Billing Manager). From left: Tishla Jones (Customer Service Manager), Tracy Willy (Senior AMI and Billing Manager), Brittany Schacht (Senior PUC Compliance Manager), Sharon Gottschalk (Senior Collections Manager), and Crystal Thurston (AMI and Billing Manager).

Both Linda Leopold (Water Treatment Plant Lab Project Manager) and Rob Herring (Engineering Project Manager) were honored by the Western Pennsylvania Water Pollution Control Association (WPWPCA) for their contributions to the western region of PA. Linda received the Alfred Bologna Water Control Achievement Award for an outstanding job incorporating and implementing her ideas in water pollution control. 

Linda is actively involved in attending meetings, where she shares her ideas on both a local and state level for WPWPCA and the Pennsylvania Water Environment Association (PWEA), another association she has been involved with for close to 20 years.

Rob was recognized with the WPWPCA’s Engineer’s Service Award for his more than five years of service to the organization and for providing educational operating guidance to the organization and its members. He is currently Secretary of the organization’s Executive Board and formerly served as the Chair of the Student’s and Young Professionals Committee.

PWSA’s Customer Service Management team – Sharon Gottschalk (Senior Collections Manager), Tracy Willy (Senior AMI and Billing Manager), Brittany Schacht (Senior PUC Compliance Manager), Crystal Thurston (AMI and Billing Manager), and Tishla Jones (Customer Service Manager) – have been awarded with a Special Districts 2021 Technology Innovation Award from Government Technology. Remote work has certainly changed how we all perform our jobs. The Customer Service team didn’t miss a beat though, leveraging technology to deliver all in-person services previously provided to PWSA customers in digital fashions. To mention just two noteworthy achievements, the team implemented a new online payment vendor, increasing eBill adoption to 43%, and have, to-date, enrolled more than 5,000 customers in our Bill Discount Program, working closely with members of our PGH2O Cares Team.

James Stitt (Sustainability Manager) has been recognized by international energy provider NRG Energy, Inc. with an Excellence in Energy Award in the Sustainability category. This honor was the result of his and the Authority’s work organizing and participating in the Western PA Energy Consortium (WPEC), which aims to partner with other local municipalities and institutions to pool our energy buying power to attain greater efficiencies, reduce costs, and drive demand toward renewable power. 

Congratulations to all our award winners for receiving these well-deserved honors. Thank you all for your commitment to PWSA, our neighbors, the Pittsburgh region, and continued excellence in your areas of expertise!