Water Utility Names Additions to Executive Team

Arizona Water Company has selected three individuals to join the company’s executive team who will continue building on the company’s successful nearly 70-year history of reliably providing water to what has grown to 300,000 customers across Arizona.

“As the second largest private supplier of water in Arizona, it’s critical that we have an executive team in place that can navigate the dynamics of the most critical resource in our state so that we can continue employing innovative and affordable ways to serve our many customers,” said Fred Schneider, president of Arizona Water Company. “These three water professionals all have diverse experiences that will serve the company and our customers well for many years to come.”

Nick Liu is AWC’s new Vice President of Rates and Revenue. Liu comes to AWC from Liberty Utilities where for the past several years he served as Senior Manager of Rates and Regulatory Affairs. Liu led efforts to effectively manage the West Valley water company’s prices and built teams to advance its regulatory strategies. As AWC’s vice president of rates and revenue, Liu is responsible for managing regulatory affairs and ensuring that AWC’s rates allow it to continue providing safe, reliable water service.

Christopher Alario is a strong leader who is AWC’s new vice president of customer service and special projects. Alario most recently served as vice president of regulated business planning for Liberty Utility, leading efforts there to establish an effective business and growth strategy. Prior to that, Alario was president of Liberty’s New York operations, where he led the company’s integration of 125,000 New York customers into Liberty’s business portfolio. Among his many responsibilities, Alario also successfully led financial, operational and safety performance, as well as regulatory affairs, employee engagement and development. Alario’s work with AWC will focus on managing large, multidisciplinary projects and customer experience and communications.

Already a part of the AWC team, Mark Kieren is now vice president of operations. Kieren rejoined Arizona Water Company in 2018 and served successfully as the Pinal Valley general manager. Prior to that, Kieren spent 14 years as utilities operations manager for the Town of Prescott Valley where he was responsible for water and wastewater during a time when the town doubled in population to some 49,000 residents. Kieren began his career at Arizona Water Company with a 22-year tenure where he worked his way up to division manager of the Miami and Superior divisions. As AWC’s vice president of operations, Kieren is responsible for directing AWC’s day-to-day operations, providing safe, reliable water service to customers and customer service.

Headquartered in Phoenix for nearly 70 years, Arizona Water Company provides clean and reliable drinking water to 300,000 Arizonans in more than 18 communities comprising 24 water systems across the state.