IAWD Governance

IAWD is an association established under the Austrian Association law and governed by the General Assembly of members. Additional organs are the Board and Auditors.

Walter Kling

President

Prior to his retirement in March 2023, Walter has worked for Vienna Water, where he was appointed as Deputy Managing Director in 2011.

He serves as IAWD Secretary General since 1993 and currently also as IAWD president since 2017. Walter Kling joined the work of the Austrian Water Association and in 1993, when he was delegated to represent Vienna within IWSA. Since the launch of IWA in 2000, Walter Kling supported the development of the new association in the region of Eastern Europe by organizing a number of events. Maintaining an excellent network of contacts, he successfully applied to organize the IWA – World Water Congress 2008 in Vienna. In September 2010 he was elected IWA – Vice-President, re-elected in Busan 2012 and served in this position until 2014.

In 2010 he initiated the development of the Danube Water Program, which was launched jointly by the World Bank and IAWD in 2013.

Lyubomir Filipov

Vice President

Common purpose, common actions, common support – that is the way for us to move forward. IAWD is the meeting place for that.

Gottfried Blaser

Treasurer

I am committed to the IAWD because the association connects the people of the Danube region in a nonpolitical way, covering water supply and wastewater disposal, which are issues of professional interest for me.

Wolfgang Gruber

Board member

Miran Jug
Mircea Valentin Macri

Board member

I decided to act as Board Member of IAWD because here it is the place where I can offer my experience (more than 46 years in water business) in the debates and the decisions taken by IAWD, the most important organization of the water operators in the Danube region.

George Sugar

Board member

Filip Wanner

Board member

Robert Greb

Board member 

Raimund Paschinger

Auditor

Raimund Paschinger, studied computer science and business economics at the University of Vienna (graduated in 1992).

After 4 years of working in the domain of tax advisory and auditing he switched 1996 to EVN Wasser GmbH, since 2004 as Managing Director. EVN Wasser is part of the EVN Group (business fields are electricity, gas, waste incineration, water, wastewater, telecommunication, etc.) and is responsible for the drinking water supply for more than 550.000 inhabitants in Lower Austria. Mr. Paschinger is also active in the Austrian Association of Water and Gas (OVGW) and international associations like IAWD, IWA and EUREAU as well.

Philip Weller

Advisor to the Board

Philip is an environmental planner by training and from July 2013 until his retirement in 2021 has been serving as the Danube Water Program Coordinator for the International Association of Water Supply Companies in the Danube River Catchment Area (IAWD), administering and managing a joint project together with the World Bank aimed at improving and supporting the efficiency of Danube region water supply and waste water companies.

Philip previously served for 10 years as the Executive Secretary of the (ICPDR) International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River. The ICPDR is the forum for the 14 major Danube countries and the European Commission to implement the commitments they have made under the Danube River Protection Convention. Before that he has worked for the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) as Danube Carpathian Program Director and has also managed successful consulting businesses in both Canada and Austria and has done numerous assignments for governments and international organizations.

Philip is author of three books on environmental topics including ‘Freshwater Seas’, an environmental history of the Great Lakes of North America.

Vladimir Tausanović

Honorary member

Together, we can do much more for our waters!

Hans Sailer

Honorary Member

The development of IAWD since its establishment in 1993 is undoubtedly a success story. The challenge for all stakeholders now lies in continuing this success story in the future with the same quality standards and the same high degree of commitment