Greater Cincinnati Water Works Announces Cathy Bailey as New Director

The Greater Cincinnati Water Works Department (GCWW) is pleased to announce Cathy Bernardino Bailey as Director, effective Monday, September 21.

The selection of Ms. Bailey is the result of a national search process intended to identify the best possible candidate for the position. Bailey comes to the position with more than 23 years of experience in various roles with GCWW.

As director, she is responsible for an operational budget of approximately $32 million and a CIP of roughly $116 million over the next five years. She also oversees more than 600 full-time staff.

City Manager Harry Black announced the appointment of Ms. Bailey saying, "Ms. Bailey has done a tremendous job guiding and stabilizing GCWW during this transitional period. We, as a City will rely heavily on Ms. Bailey’s expertise and her breadth of knowledge about GCWW operations. She will be responsible for overseeing cost-effective water facilities operations that better serve the public, limit ratepayer cost and protect the environment."

 

About Cathy Bailey

Before serving as Interim Director, Ms. Bailey worked her entire career for GCWW.

She began her career in 1992 as a chemist before moving on the following year to take on the role of Water Quality and Treatment Data Manager. She later earned several promotions to other key managerial positions including Information Technology Help Desk Administrator, Strategic Planning and Performance Measurement Manager and Project Manager.

In 2011, she accepted the job as Strategic Planning Manager, where she led development and execution of strategic business planning efforts for the water utility. A year later she moved on to the role of Transition Manager. In that position she facilitated and managed all integration activities with the Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati order to help unify the two utilities.

Ms. Bailey holds a Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry from the University of Cincinnati. She is actively working toward her Master’s in Business Administration from the Jack Welch Management Institute at Strayer University.

Press release.