Team

Mr. David Gadis became Chief Executive Officer of DC Water in May 2018. Immediately before joining DC Water, Mr. Gadis worked as the Chief Revenue Officer for U.S.A. Track and Field. Prior to that, Mr. Gadis served as Executive Vice President of Veolia North America where he led North American business development operations. He was responsible for corporate growth and $3 billion in revenue. Gadis served as a key consultant to municipalities and Mayors as they developed utility plans to address infrastructure improvement needs and how to save money in operating their utilities.

Gadis also worked as CEO and President of Veolia Water Indianapolis, LLC, formerly known as the Indianapolis Water Company. He was its first African American CEO/President and the first African American CEO to lead a major utility in Indianapolis. In that position, he managed the operations of the city’s water utility that employed more than 600 employees and served more than 1 million customers and 360,000 rate payers. Gadis was also responsible for field services, engineering/construction, procurement, fleet, warehousing, and plant production. He was also credited with turning the customer service department into a world class operation, answering 90% of its 80,000 calls per month in 30 seconds or less.

As a Spokesperson for VNA, Gadis has been a frequent presenter at the U.S. Conference of Mayors, speaking on both Underground Infrastructure and Managing Utilities, as well with the National League of Cities and the National Association of Public Private Partnerships. His expertise in demonstrating how private firms can help municipalities as valued partners in securing significant cost savings, gained him a positive reputation among city and municipal leadership as a trusted partner who truly understands their challenges and desired goals.

With Gadis’ leadership, Veolia received the United States Conference of Mayor’s 2006 Public/Private Partnership Award, as well as the Mayor of Indianapolis’ Celebration of Diversity Award and the Indiana Minority Supplier Development Council’s Circle of Excellence Award three (3) times. Gadis worked with his colleagues at Veolia to increase procurement opportunities for diverse firms by 600%, from 5% to 35%, which represents more than $40 million annually.

After graduating from Southern Methodist University with a B.A in Marketing Communications, Gadis spent his early career in the insurance industry where he focused heavily on ensuring proper coverage and management of high risk, specialty utility underwriting/claims.

Gadis has served on the Boards of the Indianapolis Urban League, Fifth Third Bank, Central Indiana Corporate Partnership, Indianapolis Sports Corporation, Indiana Business Diversity Council, Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce, the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, the local Big Ten Basketball Tournament Committee and Indianapolis Downtown Inc. He is also a member of the American Water Works Association.

Gadis attended Pike High School, where he was the school’s first Indiana All Star basketball player and earned himself a basketball scholarship to Southern Methodist University. While attending Southern Methodist University, Mr. Gadis was a 4 year basketball player and team captain. Gadis’ basketball skills landed him induction into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame, class of 2014.

Mr. Matthew Brown has overall responsibility for DC Water's financial management and policies, including: accounting operations and financial reporting; budget formulation and execution; program analysis and evaluation; treasury; controller; investment and debt management; and risk management. Mr. Brown previously served as the Director of the Office of Budget and Finance of the District of Columbia. Prior to his current position, Mr. Brown served as Director, Department of Transportation and as the Deputy Director for Resource Allocation for the District's Department of Transportation, in addition to a variety of public sector management and budget positions for several large municipal government entities. Mr. Brown also has significant private sector experience as a result of his tenure with Public Financial Management, Inc.

Mr. Brown holds a B.A. in Political Science from Texas Wesleyan University, and an M.P.A. in Budget and Public Finance from the George Washington University.

Mr. Ivan Boykin serves DC Water as Vice President, Finance, working in the Finance, Procurement, and Compliance cluster. Mr. Boykin has served the Authority in several roles since initially joining DC Water as a Water Billing Assistant, Collections, in August 1999.  Most recently, Mr. Boykin held the position of Director, Finance. 

As Vice President, Finance, Mr. Boykin is leading enterprise-wide customer payment initiatives and enhancing visibility for DC Water’s strategic initiatives (Environmental Social and Governance, capital plan) with the financial community and managing compliance with the Authority’s financial policies, including management of the operating reserves. Mr. Boykin is also helping to lead efforts to identify, evaluate, and implement innovative finance solutions like solar and other clean energy investments.

Mr. Boykin oversees DC Water’s $3.8 billion debt portfolio and $350-400 million cash balance  and he is responsible for directing programs that protect DC Water, the risk management and insurance programs. Additionally, Mr. Boykin is responsible for the accounts receivable function including daily reconciliation of revenues (like customer payments). Mr. Boykin holds a master’s degree in Finance from Southern New Hampshire University and a master’s degree in Entertainment Business from Full Sail University.

Mr. Henok Getahun is responsible for cash management, investments and banking relations, account receivable operation and debt management, including the outstanding debt portfolio and the issuance of new debt to ensure strong financial performance and adherence to board policies. Additionally, He oversees treasury and debt services to ensure that all regulatory obligations are consistently met. As part of these duties, also develops and recommends capital finance plans and implements as required. Mr. Getahun also has several accounting and auditing experiences in private and public entities.

Mr. Getahun Holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Addis Ababa University. In addition He is Certified Government Financial Manager (CGFM) and a member of the Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants (CPA).