483 From Process Engineer to Process Architect: Alicia Butler‑Pierre on Making Work Flow
Release Date: 07/03/2026
495 Growing Through Change in Water Treatment with Mark Lewis, Part 1
Scaling UP! H2O
Change is unavoidable, but uncertainty does not have to control how water treatment professionals respond to it. Mark Lewis returns to share what he learned when Southeastern Laboratories was acquired by CRB Water—and how employees can remain valuable, informed, and open to opportunity during a business transition. Navigating an Acquisition from the Employee’s Perspective Southeastern Laboratories began exploring a buyer because its owners wanted to protect the company and approximately 30 employees. When CRB Water entered the picture, employees naturally wondered what...
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Scaling UP! H2O
A strong convention outcome starts before the first session and continues long after the exhibit hall closes. Association of Water Technologies Executive Director Matt Coffindaffer explains how deliberate preparation, wider professional relationships, and volunteer service can turn AWT 2026 into practical value for an industrial water treatment career or business. Find the Right Place to Volunteer AWT offers yearlong committee service, shorter task-force assignments, and opportunities across technical research, marketing, membership, regulatory affairs, business resources, young...
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493 Preparing for AWT 2026: Leadership, Change, and CWT Growth with Matt Coffindaffer, Part 1
Scaling UP! H2O
Strong professional associations do more than provide programs and credentials. They create an environment where members can exchange knowledge, build trusted relationships, and prepare their businesses for what comes next. As the Association of Water Technologies enters a new operational chapter, Executive Director explains how AWT is strengthening that environment without losing the culture that makes it distinctive. From the Arts to Association Leadership Before entering association management, Matt built a career behind the scenes in theater. His...
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492 AI for Water Treaters: A Thought Partner, Not a Replacement
Scaling UP! H2O
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Scaling UP! H2O
Reliable Legionella results begin long before a sample reaches the laboratory. of explains how building conditions, field collection practices, and laboratory methods influence the quality—and usefulness—of the data water professionals receive. Building Water Conditions Shape the Risk Modern buildings rely heavily on controlled mechanical systems, yet water can remain an overlooked part of the indoor environment. Stagnation, low flow, dead legs, temperature, pH, disinfectant residuals, corrosion, and accumulated organic material can all influence biofilm development and microbial...
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A water management plan protects people only when the facility uses it to guide decisions. Dr. Abe Cullom, Director of Water Safety & Management at Pace Analytical, joins Trace Blackmore, CWT, to examine why Legionella programs break down—and how testing, communication, and consistent implementation can strengthen them. Implementation Is the Bottleneck Five decades after Legionella was identified, researchers understand much more about the organism, its ecology, the conditions that support its growth, and the interventions available to control it. However, Dr....
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488 Managing Legionella with confidence: A Conversation with Patsy Root
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486 Meter Optimization: Air in the water with Anthony Giudice
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Industrial water professionals understand flow, pressure, heat exchange, wastewater, boilers, condensers, and process control. Alicia Butler-Pierre brings that same engineering logic into business systems, showing how work, information, decisions, and people move through an organization.
Alicia, CEO of Equilibria, joins Trace Blackmore, CWT, to connect process engineering, operations management, Lean Six Sigma, dashboards, professional training, and business infrastructure. Her message is clear: whether you are moving water through a pipeline or work through a company, the question remains the same—how can the process flow more seamlessly?
From Process Engineer to Process Architect
Alicia shares how her chemical engineering background shaped the way she sees organizations. Early in her career, she worked around wastewater, boilers, condensers, and heat exchangers, but she also saw a gap between technical operations and business decision-making.
That gap eventually led her to business school, entrepreneurship, and the founding of Equilibria. What began as a professional organizing company became an operations management consulting firm focused on processes, systems, Lean Six Sigma, and business infrastructure.
For water professionals, this conversation offers a practical reminder: technical improvements often fail to gain support when they are explained only in technical language. Alicia challenges listeners to connect process improvements to business outcomes that accounting, leadership, and customers can understand.
Dashboards, Dollars, and the Cost of Poor Quality
Trace and Alicia discuss a familiar challenge in water treatment: a team may know that a technical improvement will raise efficiency or reduce risk, but accounting may only see the capital expense. Alicia’s advice is to show the linkage.
Dashboards can help different functions see cause and effect. When technical investments are connected to revenue, profitability, customer demand, and operating efficiency, decision-makers can better understand the true value of the work.
Alicia also introduces the Lean Six Sigma concept of cost of poor quality. Instead of presenting improvement work as another expense, she encourages professionals to frame it as an investment and show what inaction could cost in dollars and cents.
Lean Six Sigma, Training, and Podcast Education
Alicia explains Lean and Six Sigma in clear operational terms. Lean focuses on reducing waste and improving work from a customer-centered perspective. Six Sigma uses statistics and data analysis to reduce defects and errors as close to zero as possible.
The conversation also moves into professional education. Alicia describes her podcast training portal, her partnership with the Project Management Institute, and how podcast episodes can support professional development units when paired with quizzes, approval processes, and a structured learning management system.
For a technical field built on continuing education, this opens an important question: how can trusted podcast content become part of a more formal learning pathway?
Scaling Knowledge Across Borders
Alicia’s work has expanded through teaching, online training, micro-courses, podcasting, and international business development. She describes podcasting as a door that gave her access to the world and helped her see the global need for professional education.
Her path from process engineer to process architect reinforces a lesson water professionals know well: good systems do not happen by accident. They are designed, tested, improved, and translated into language others can act on.
Listen to the full conversation above. Explore related episodes below. Stay engaged, keep learning, and continue scaling up your knowledge!
Connect with Alicia Butler-Pierre
Email: apierre@eqbsystems.com
Website: Equilibria | Lean Six Sigma, Project Management Training via Podcasts
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliciabutlerpierre/
Equilibria, Inc.: Overview | LinkedIn
Scaling UP! H2O Resources Mentioned
AWT (Association of Water Technologies)
Scaling UP! H2O Academy video courses
131 The One About Standard Operating Procedures
Words of Water with James McDonald
Today's definition is the pressure of a system measured relative to the surrounding atmospheric pressure. In other words, it is the pressure of a system above atmospheric pressure.
2026 Events for Water Professionals
Check out our Scaling UP! H2O Events Calendar where we’ve listed every event Water Treaters should be aware of by clicking HERE.
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