Black & Veatch has named Donnie Ginn to lead its Integrated Water and Environmental Solutions business, a newly elevated unit within the company’s Fuels & Natural Resources sector. Ginn, who has worked in the water sector for more than 30 years, will oversee strategy and delivery across drinking water, industrial water, wastewater, reuse, and environmental programmes, including work related to PFAS contaminants. He will report to Narsingh Chaudhary, president of the Fuels & Natural Resources sector.
Ginn joined Black & Veatch early in his career and has held a range of roles focused on infrastructure, regulatory and resilience challenges for utilities and public agencies. Before the promotion, he was executive vice president and water solutions leader, a post in which he guided client engagement and contributed to the company’s annual Water Report.
In a 2025 interview with Smart Water Magazine, Ginn spoke about the pressures utilities face and the work required to address them. On the costs utilities may incur to meet tightening contaminant standards, he said that Black & Veatch seeks to help utilities find ways “for securing funding and improving operational efficiency” so they can deliver safe water and meet regulatory priorities without undue burden on ratepayers.
Ginn joined Black & Veatch early in his career and has held a range of roles focused on infrastructure, regulatory and resilience challenges for utilities and public agencies
Addressing broader industry practice, Ginn discussed the concept of integrated planning. He noted that viewing water as a “single, renewable resource with value in every part of its cycle” helps utilities break out of long-standing organisational silos and pursue more resilient systems.
He also commented on data use, saying many utilities collect large volumes of information but do not yet turn it into actionable insight. Ginn pointed to the importance of establishing structured data systems and trained staff capable of turning data into planning tools that support long-term resilience.
Those themes resonate with the responsibilities of his new post. The Integrated Water and Environmental Solutions business encompasses municipal and industrial water systems, wastewater treatment, reuse, desalination, environmental remediation, permitting and compliance, and nature‑based approaches. The unit sits within a broader organisational structure that Black & Veatch has realigned around three strategic sectors, each intended to focus expertise on major infrastructure arenas.
Chaudhary said that the decision to bring the water and environmental teams together within Fuels & Natural Resources reflects how project planning and execution around water have become closely linked to other aspects of infrastructure delivery.
Ginn holds degrees in civil engineering from the University of Kentucky and the University of Cincinnati and completed an executive programme at Harvard. He is also active with industry and non‑profit organisations concerned with sustainable water systems.
