Nicki Pozos, PhD, PE, PMP, Principal
““When I am at my best, I enable people to leap from where they are to a whole new vantage point. That new perspective makes the impossible possible.””
Nicki helps people see themselves and the world with new eyes. After starting her career in water quality research, she worked as a life coach, water supply planner, marketing manager, and communications consultant before realizing her heart belonged in equity work. In her career she has co-led a group of 50 water professionals, managed preliminary design of the billion-dollar Willamette Water Supply Program, and delivered strategic communications for some of the largest water/wastewater projects in Oregon.
Nicki is multiracial—her mother was born in Myanmar and grew up in England, while her father grew up poor, white, and rural in Canada. Her husband is half Mexican and her children both identify as Mexican and brown. Nicki has been working in equity for 10 years and is on a continuing journey of discovering what it means to advocate for change as a mixed-race person who passes as white.
As a recognized leader in equity within the water industry, she began by creating opportunities for women’s leadership through cofounding the Women in Leadership Symposium. Now she serves as a minority evaluator for the City of Portland, leads equity programs on capital projects for the Portland Water Bureau and Portland Bureau of Environmental Services, and serves as president and cofounder of Women Leading Water, which takes an intersectional approach to promoting equity in the water industry. She was the inaugural recipient of the Pacific Northwest Section Clean Water Association Woman of the Year Award.
Nicki has presented on equity, diversity, and bias at numerous local and regional conferences, ranging from local operator trainings to a keynote presentation at the
CA-NV American Water Works Association conference. She has delivered equity and inclusion trainings and presentations to thousands of technical professionals at organizations including municipal agencies, consulting firms, and professional associations.
When she’s not working, volunteering, or spending time with her family, you’ll find her drinking Diet Coke or studying the Enneagram and other personality psychology theories.