Michael William Sweeney, Ph.D.
Toho Water Authority
FWEA President
 

Sweeney graduated from Indiana University with a B.S. in Public Health and Environmental Science and subsequently graduated from Purdue University with an M.S. and a Ph.D. in environmental engineering. His graduate work concentrated on water quality modeling and real-time assessment of the nitrification processes in two 150 MGD advanced water reclamation facilities. While pursuing graduate training, Sweeney served the City of Indianapolis as its Control Systems Manager. Subsequently, he went on to serve the Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati and Louisville and Jefferson County Metropolitan Sewer District in technical and executive management positions. In addition to utility management, he worked for EMA, Inc. and Woolpert, Inc. as a consultant serving utilities and clients throughout North America in various capacities such as strategic planning, organizational development and executive coaching, technology planning, and implementation. It was by his consulting experience that he reached central Florida in 2004 working with Orange County Utilities and Toho Water Authority, his future employer. He began his involvement with FWEA in 2006 on the Utility Management Committee developing water and wastewater systems benchmarking surveys followed by the FWEA strategic planning initiative in 2014.

In the summer of 2011, he joined Toho Water Authority as Deputy Executive Director based in Kissimmee. Sweeney is involved with most aspects of its management and oversees its strategic plan, communications, and asset management programs.

Sweeney received the honor of a WEF Fellow in 2018 recognizing professional achievement, stature and contributions of WEF members to the preservation, and enhancement of the global water environment and prior to that the Ellms Award from the Ohio Water Environment Association recognizing conference activities, civic affairs, and leadership.  He has led three WEF committees, including the Utility Management Committee, the Literature Review Committee and Automation, and Information Technology Committee and chaired several specialty conferences, including the Utility Management Conferences of 2006 and 2018.

He lives in Kissimmee with his wife of 36 years, who is a family practice physician. They have two grown children. His son Patrick is an army captain and Blackhawk pilot, and his daughter Kelly is a TV and film set designer and arranger.

Aside from utility management, Sweeney is extensively involved with his community serving as immediate past president of the Council on Aging, a major social service non-profit of Osceola County; past chair of Community Vision, a collaboration of leaders that take on projects that collectively realize the community’s vision; and Rotary International as a past club president. He has also made a dozen trips to Haiti with his wife to help with water sanitation projects and set up and support medical clinics in remote areas.
Sweeney enjoys all aspects of the outdoors including, boating, hiking, camping, motorcycling, and being somewhere in the world he hasn’t been before.