Michele Braas

Michele Braas serves as Digital Sales Manager in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where she has worked for approximately nine months. With more than 30 years in the water and wastewater sector, primarily focused on wastewater, she began her career after graduating from Penn State University with a degree in civil engineering and an environmental engineering minor. Her early roles included positions with the City of Lancaster water department and as an environmental engineer handling both drinking water and wastewater. She later moved into consulting, where she performed water treatment design, wastewater treatment plant design, pump station design, and work on transmission, distribution, and collection systems. Subsequent positions included equipment sales at Xylem, focusing on large mixers for wastewater treatment plants, and a business development manager role involving marketing, research, campaigns, and exploring new markets for water and wastewater products as well as pumps. Michele is a licensed professional engineer in Pennsylvania and earned her MBA from Villanova University about a year and a half ago. She maintains memberships in the Water Environment Federation and a wastewater reuse association. Outside her professional roles, she has presented to schools on environmental engineering and wastewater topics and spoken to women's shelters about careers in the field. She attributes her success to believing in her work, finding value in contributing to a better world, and persevering through challenges. Michele advises young women entering the industry to ignore doubters, speak up confidently, and recognize that they deserve a place at the table.