Jean Walsh

Jean is the Communications Manager for the Wastewater Division of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC), the City agency that provides water and wastewater services in San Francisco. Her role includes planning and implementing public outreach campaigns, working with the media, crisis management, and strategic stakeholder engagement on highly sensitive topics such as flooding.

The agency received a great deal of attention in the past year from the media and the public regarding localized flooding that can occur during extreme storms. Jean took the initiative to partner with a local volunteer group to build a web application (called Adopt-a-Drain SF) that enables residents to “adopt” one of the city’s 25,000+ storm drains and help keep it clean in order to minimize flooding. The app was developed in record time, at no cost to the city, saving SF ratepayers an estimated $60-80,000.Jean relishes any opportunity to look for creative solutions to problems and strives for innovation in the public sector.