Our Team

George McGraw is the Founder and CEO of DigDeep. George is an avid speaker and writer and has been published by The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Nation and many others. He has been profiled by NPR, Vice, and Forbes, and spoken at events hosted by the Clinton Foundation, The Atlantic and Ford. George is an Ashoka Fellow and former Social Entrepreneur in Residence at Stanford University. George holds an M.A. in International Law and Conflict Management from the United Nations University for Peace. georgemcgraw.com

Ms. Chischilly is the Executive Director at the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP). She is responsible for managing ITEP’s work with Northern Arizona University, state and federal agencies, tribes and Alaska Native villages. In 2017, ITEP celebrated 25 years serving over 95% of all the 574 Tribes and Alaskan Native Villages nationwide. Ms. Chischilly currently serves on two federal advisory committees (FACs): 1) Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) National Drinking Water Advisory Council (NDWAC); and 2) EPA’s National Advisory Committee (NAC). Ms. Chischilly also completed her service to two FACs: 1) Department of Interior’s Advisory on Climate Change and Natural Resource Science (ACCNRS) and 2) the Advisory Committee for the Sustained National Climate Assessment (ACSNCA) which transitioned to the Independent Advisory Committee for Applied Climate Assessment. Ms. Chischilly speaks both nationally and internationally on topics of Indian Law, Environmental Law, Climate Change, Traditional Knowledges, Water Law and Tribes/Indigenous Peoples. She works with the United Nations on issues of the Protection of Traditional Knowledge and co-wrote, “Guidelines for the Use of Traditional Knowledge in Climate Change Initiatives” and “Evaluating Knowledge to Support Climate Action: A Framework for Sustained Assessment”. Before coming to ITEP, she served for over ten years as Senior Assistant General Counsel to the Gila River Indian Community (Community), where she assisted the Community in implementing the historic “Arizona Water Settlement Act” and founded the Community’s Renewable Energy Team. Ms. Chischilly is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation (Diné). She earned her Juris Doctorate degree from St. Mary’s University School of Law and a Masters in Environmental Law (LL.M) from Vermont Law School. She is licensed in Arizona and has practiced in state, district, and federal courts. She is also a member of the International Bar Association.

Gloria Cordero is from Long Beach, CA, and currently serves on both the Long Beach Board of Water Commissioners and the Los Angeles Metropolitan Water Board. Her current MWD committee appointments include: Chair: Communications and Legislation Committee; Member: Executive Committee; Water Planning and Stewardship Committee; Bay-Delta Committee; Agriculture and Industry Relations; Conservation and Local Resources; and Organization, Personnel and Technology Committee Cordero has served on the Long Beach Board of Water Commissioners since January 2015, and on the Los Angeles Metropolitan Water Board since 2016. Cordero is a principal at Cordero & Associates, a Long Beach-based public affairs consulting firm she founded in 2008. In 2006, then Mayor Bob Foster appointed her as the city’s deputy director of community affairs, where she managed education, workforce development, nonprofits and business, and community outreach. Cordero previously was the government affairs director for Long Beach City College and a regional manager for Southern California Edison. She started at Edison as an educational representative, where she developed and implemented energy-efficiency and safety programs for school districts in Los Angeles, the South Bay and Long Beach. Cordero has a long history of community service in Long Beach where she served as a board member on the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce, Leadership Long Beach, Long Beach Nonprofit Partnership and the California Conference for Equality and Justice (formerly National Conference for Christians and Jews). She is currently a member of the Long Beach YMCA Metro Board. Cordero, a former educator, has also done over 40 years of volunteer work with the Navajo Nation in Arizona where she was appointed by then President Pete Zah to the board of the First Navajo and Library Foundation in Window Rock, Arizona. A Long Beach native, Cordero received her master’s degree in public administration from the University of Southern California and a bachelor’s degree in sociology from California State University at Long Beach. Cordero and her husband, Mario Cordero, have two children and three grandsons.

Dain Hansen is executive vice president of Government Relations at the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials (IAPMO). IAPMO coordinates the development of plumbing, mechanical, swimming pool, and solar energy codes to meet the specific needs of individual jurisdictions both in the United States and abroad. Dain also sits on the management team for IAPMO’s nonprofit arm, IWSH, DigDeep’s partner on the domestic Community Plumbing Challenge. Since joining IAPMO, Hansen has overseen the creation and development of IAPMO’s Washington, D.C., office, including its legislative and regulatory initiatives. He works with members of Congress, White House officials, key federal and state agencies, and relevant stakeholders to ensure the organization’s interests and priorities are represented.  Dain works with USAID, charitable foundations and organizations from the WASH community on projects throughout the globe, including; Southeast Asia, the Middle-East, and Africa.

Prior to joining IAPMO, Hansen worked for the National Electrical Manufacturers Association, and before that, he worked on Capitol Hill as a senior policy adviser. Before his work on Capitol Hill, he worked on various political campaigns. His experience and expertise have focused on global, federal, and state energy and water policy, including federal appropriations. He graduated with degrees from Brigham Young University-Idaho and Ricks College and is also an Eagle Scout. Dain also serves on the advisory board for DigDeep’s national study of water and sanitation access.

Dain also serves on the advisory board for DigDeep’s national study of water and sanitation access.

As the founding Executive of The Pershing Square Foundation and the Principal of Fortitude Fund, Amy has well over a decade of experience in strategic philanthropy, impact investing, scaling social enterprise, and creating systems networks. She has worked to support non-profit social entrepreneurs and innovators in multiple sectors including health, social justice, economic development and education with focus on capacity building, scale, and sustainability. She has been involved with a number of boards including Echoing Green, New Profit, Harvard Global Health Initiative, Zahn Center for Social Enterprise, and the NYU Social Entrepreneurship Program. Prior to this work she has decades of experience working and teaching in the Mental Health arena with a specialization in rapid evaluation, child and family treatment, and trauma.

Steve McCormick is a Managing Director at the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation in Palo Alto, where he identifies and supports DRK Entrepreneurs like DigDeep. Steve is DigDeep’s Acting CFO. Before joining the team at DRK Steve spent over forty years in the not-for-profit sector. He is the co-founder of Earth Genome served as President of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation from 2007-2014. Prior to his time at the Moore Foundation, Steve worked at The Nature Conservancy for 32 years, the last 6 from 2002-2008 as its President and CEO overseeing operating in 30 countries as well as every state in the U.S. A leader in the social innovation sector, Steve has served on the boards of the California Academy of Sciences, Sustainable Conservation, U.C. Berkeley College of Natural Resources, and the California Wildlife Officers Foundation. He has also served on the boards of The Independent Sector, the Student Conservation Association, the Sustainable Forest Initiative, and the Advisory Board of the Harvard Business School Social Enterprise Initiative. Steve has received widespread recognition and awards, including the Chevron Conservation Award, the Edmund G. Brown Award for Environmental and Economic Balance, the John Pritzlaff Conservation Award, the California League of Conservation Voters’ Conservation Leadership Award, and the Silver Eagle Award from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. McCormick holds a B.S. in Agricultural Economics from the University of California at Berkeley (1973), and a J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of Law (1976).

Edna Primrose is Founder and President of Differenza, a consulting firm focused on education, community and workforce development, poverty, and equity. Prior to that, she served as Director of Policy for the Aspen Institute Education and Society Program, and Assistant Administrator for Water and Environmental Programs and Chief Operating Officer for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Rural Development Agency. She has held executive positions in the public and private sectors, including a 14-year federal career. Ms. Primrose is on Advisory Boards for Project Water Education Today (WET) Foundation, which promotes water education and stewardship; Hampton Roads Ventures LLC, a national community development entity; Labor Mobility Partnerships (LaMP), and Towson University, her alma mater.

Monica Ellis is Chief Executive Officer of Global Water Challenge (GWC), an action-oriented coalition of corporations, NGOs, and other organizations committed to achieving universal access to clean water and sanitation. Monica also serves as CEO and is a founding member of the Global Environment & Technology Foundation (GETF). A sustainable development leader, Monica has worked throughout the world on a range of natural resource and economic development issues, focusing particularly on clean water, climate, technology, health, and economic empowerment issues. She specializes in developing high impact partnerships with leading companies, government agencies, civil society, and philanthropists that result in resilient communities. Her passion centers on working with vulnerable communities, assisting their efforts to gain clean water, sanitation and ultimately, economic opportunity.

As an advocate of innovation, she has also helped launch several successful companies and platforms in the environmental technology, information technology, and communications sectors. She is a member/advisor to several boards, including GETF, DigDeep, Water For People, the Johns Hopkins University Global Water Advisory Board, US Water Partnership, the Graham Sustainability Institute at the University of Michigan, the Global Water Institute at the Ohio State University and Ketos. She is a graduate of the University of Missouri and a proud recipient of American University’s William K. Reilly Award for Environmental Leadership.

Under Monica’s leadership, GETF and GWC have mobilized over $350 million for clean water access and community development efforts that today benefit over 14 million people in Africa, Central and Latin America, and India.

Joann Harris is a Firm Partner and Chief Compliance Officer of TPG, a leading global alternative asset firm founded in 1992.

Prior to joining TPG in 2015, Joann was an Assistant Director with the SEC where she supervised investigations involving all key enforcement program areas. During her 12 years at the SEC, in addition to serving as an Assistant Director, Joann was a member of the SEC’s Asset Management Unit, a national specialized unit focused on investment advisers, investment companies and private funds. While an Enforcement attorney, she conducted a wide array of investigations covering financial fraud, insider trading, market manipulation, and other conduct that violated the federal securities laws. She received numerous Enforcement Director’s Awards for her outstanding contributions to the SEC’s enforcement program.

Prior to joining the SEC, she was a corporate attorney in private practice and a certified public accountant and auditor before attending law school. Joann received her JD from the SMU Dedman School of Law and her BS in accounting from the University of Arkansas.

Kathy G. Beckett has over thirty years of experience practicing environmental, energy and natural resource law. She has experience working with all major federal environmental programs, to include Environmental Justice. Kathy has earned certification by U.C. Berkeley Law Executive Education for the course Sustainable Capitalism & ESG. She works with clients, community and business leaders to expand economic development in the Appalachian region.

Kathy is ranked by Chambers USA for Environment, Lawdragon Green 500, and is a Fellow of the American College of Environmental Lawyers among other professional organizations.