Member Profile: WEF Delegate Fred McNeill, City of Manchester, NH

Fred McNeill

Meet NEWEA’s freshman WEF Delegate Fred McNeill. Fred is the Chief Engineer for the City of Manchester, NH’s Environmental Protection Division (EPD) where he manages northern New England’s largest wastewater utility that includes a 42 mgd WWTP, a dozen pump stations, 380 miles of sewer, and 190 miles of drain. A long time NEWEA and industry contributor, Fred has previously served as NEWEA State Director for New Hampshire and is a past-president of the New Hampshire Water Pollution Control Association (NHWPCA). Fred is also active in many other professional organizations. He has served as a NEIWPCC State Commissioner for the past decade, has been a long-time member of the New Hampshire’s Rivers Management Advisory Committee, and recently authored the state’s wastewater report card for the American Society of Civil Engineers. Fred has served as moderator for New Hampshire’s “Water is Worth It” Legislative Breakfast for the past seven years and was recently featured in a water documentary produced by New Hampshire Public Television called Water Works. A link to the documentary is provided below:

http://video.nhptv.org/video/2366020875/

Fred fell into his engineering career as a newly married 22 year old carpenter looking for adventure. As newlyweds he and his former wife Rhonda joined the Peace Corps and served in Sierra Leone, West Africa where, much to his surprise, he was assigned to manage a rural water supply program. Fred was initially a bit upset because, being a carpenter, he wanted to build a school or a build hospital and was unfamiliar with the importance of clean water. Fred soon fell in love with not only the water industry but also and the adventure of living overseas. However, after their Peace Corps assignment was completed Fred was unable to secure meaningful employment overseas because he did not have an engineering degree. So they returned to the US and Fred entered Northeastern as a 24 year old freshman with the goal of getting a civil engineering degree and returning overseas. Upon graduation he embarked on a twenty year consulting career that included ten years working internationally in the Middle East and the Republics of the former Soviet Union. Fred lived in Egypt for three years, Jordan for two years, and did extensive work in Armenia, Georgia, and Bulgaria.

When Fred’s two sons reached school age while they were living in Jordan the decision was made to return to the US and raise the boys in the same positive and healthy New Hampshire environment that Fred and Rhonda grew up in. Upon returning stateside Fred continued his consulting career and first became involved with NEWEA by presenting a paper at the 2001 annual conference. Fred has since proudly presented at every NEWEA Annual Conference, a streak of 17 years and counting. In 2006, Fred left the consulting community and accepted his current position as Chief Engineer for his hometown of Manchester, NH. Fred, a self-proclaimed anal-engineer, points out that his career will be the perfect balance of 20 years in the private sector and 20 years in the public sector.

Outside of the office Fred is very active being an avid golfer at his beloved local municipal course Derryfield Country Club where he recently helped design a $3.3 million drainage improvement project. Fred has also coordinated the NHWPCA’s annual golf outing for over 15 years along with several other golf outings along the way. He is also an avid skier, skiing out of Cannon Mountain, a mountain that he has now been skiing for 50 years. He is also a founding member of the Donut Kings corporate ski team that recently completed their 14th season competing at Pat’s Peak on Thursday nights. Fred is a registered IAABO basketball referee and routinely officiates about 150 high school, AAU, and youth games a year. So if he is not working to promote the water industry you can usually find Fred on the court, on the slopes, or on the links. In closing thank you Fred for all you do for NEWEA and for being one of our industry’s leaders!