Tanya Miro recognized for water workforce leadership

Influential Women is highlighting Tanya Miro, a senior water and wastewater specialist at Kimley Horn & Associates, for more than 30 years of work in infrastructure, mentorship, and workforce development. Her career spans consent decree projects, industry outreach, and efforts to recruit and support the next generation of water professionals. Why it matters: - Tanya Miro’s work sits at the intersection of water infrastructure, public health, and workforce development. - Her career highlights a growing industry need: replacing retiring workers while expanding access to water-sector careers. - Her mentorship and recruiting efforts support the long-term reliability of water and wastewater services. What happened: - Influential Women showcased Tanya Miro, a Fort Worth, Texas-based water utility specialist with more than 30 years of industry experience. - Miro currently serves as a Senior Water/Wastewater Specialist at Kimley Horn & Associates. - Her career began in 1995 with a secretary position on a City of Fort Worth consent decree project. - She advanced from receptionist to deputy administrator over the next decade. - Her work has included multiple consent decree initiatives in Texas and across the United States. - More information is available through Tanya Miro’s Influential Women profile . The details: - Miro’s background includes regulatory compliance, operations, and program management. - She is known for connecting people, ideas, and opportunities across the water sector. - At Kimley Horn & Associates, she focuses on mentoring emerging professionals, tracking water utility market trends, and leading workforce development initiatives. - Miro serves as Community Connection Chair for the Water Environment Association of Texas, where she works to strengthen collaboration among operations professionals, engineers, and public-sector leaders. - She regularly participates in conferences and webinars. - She has emphasized the service-driven role of water infrastructure in protecting public health, the environment, and community resilience. - Her approach blends operational experience with strategic insight to help utilities improve efficiency and plan for long-term sustainability. - Her involvement in WEAT’s InFLOW program introduces recent graduates to water-sector careers. Between the lines: - Miro’s path from an administrative role to senior specialist shows how the water industry can create upward mobility outside traditional engineering tracks. - Her message that careers in water are open to people from many backgrounds reflects an industry trying to widen its talent pipeline. - The emphasis on mentorship suggests workforce development is becoming as important as technical delivery in utility leadership. - Miro points to retirements among long-tenured workers as one of the industry’s biggest challenges, but also as a chance to bring in new perspectives. - Her mentors shaped her views on curiosity, identity, construction, underground utilities, and support for small businesses and emerging professionals. - She says fulfillment comes from helping others build careers and understanding the real-world impact of clean water access. What’s next: - Miro is expected to keep advancing workforce development, mentorship, and industry collaboration through her role at Kimley Horn & Associates and her WEAT leadership. - Continued outreach through programs like InFLOW may help bring more recent graduates into the water sector. - The industry’s success will depend on how effectively it recruits and develops the next generation of water professionals. The bottom line: - Tanya Miro’s recognition centers on a simple theme: water-sector leadership is not only about infrastructure, but also about people who keep the system running and the careers that sustain it.