June 28, 2021
WestWater Welcomes new Team Members in Arizona, Colorado, and Idaho
Jessica Fox, Southwest Regional Director – Arizona
Jessica Fox is the Southwest Regional Director for WestWater Research and leads the firm’s Phoenix office. She is a dedicated water resources professional, bringing over ten years of experience in Arizona water policy and management. She has extensive experience developing and advocating for policy solutions and strategies to address groundwater and surface water issues affecting the desert southwest. While working for Arizona’s largest renewable water supplier, Jessica developed datasets and modeling tools to evaluate water supply and demand scenarios, analyze water shortage impacts, and implement effective policies and programs to achieve the organization’s strategic goals.
Jessica earned a B.S. in Environmental Studies at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, New York, and an M.S. in Sustainability at Arizona State University. Prior to joining WestWater, Jessica was the water policy advisor for the Arizona Municipal Water Users Association, evaluating regional water supply issues and formulating policy proposals for its ten Phoenix-area member municipalities who serve approximately 3.5 million residents. She also spent nearly nine years conducting regional planning, policy and data analysis as a policy analyst at Central Arizona Project and Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District.
“It’s truly an honor and privilege to join the outstanding team at WestWater Research as the Southwest Regional Director. WestWater has consistently proven itself to be a trusted leader in water resource economics consulting. I’m excited by the opportunities ahead and by our team’s commitment to continue to deliver dependable and insightful work products and support to our clients.”
Bryan David, Associate – Colorado
Bryan David is a Research Associate in the Fort Collins, CO office. He joins WestWater Research from Blue Access LLC, a sustainable finance company. There, he was responsible for evaluating investment opportunities in clean water technology development, including A.I./digitization, precision ag, treatment/purification and collection. He also created an investment model for the acquisition of an investment property with water assets to generate financial and environmental benefits. He developed pro forma analyses of impact investing fund opportunities in habitat restoration projects, industrial infrastructure upgrades, and rural infrastructure development that conserves water and promotes stewardship.
Previously, he interned for WestWater while in graduate school, examining the growth, trends, and opportunities of environmental water transfers across the western U.S. In 2020, he received a Master of Environmental Management in Water Resources from the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University and an MBA from Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Bryan graduated with a B.A. from Brown University and worked in government relations in Washington, D.C. to support funding for agriculture and natural resources conservation programs. In his spare time, he likes to bike, ski, fly fish and explore the beautiful lands and waters across the West.
Kevin Allen, Summer Associate – Colorado
Kevin is a graduate of Colorado State University, where he earned a B.S. in Natural Resource Economics and a minor in Sustainable Water, Real Estate, and Global Environmental Sustainability. During his time at CSU, Kevin focused on western water markets and took coursework related to water law and policy, natural resource economics, and econometrics.
Kevin comes to WestWater with a background in both the commercial and residential side of investment real estate. His prior experience includes working as a market analyst for THK Associates Inc., where he developed reports and provided key analyses on a variety of real estate product types. His work was frequently used as a tool to determine project feasibility, to acquire financing, and in litigation – specifically regarding disputes over loss of property value.
Kevin looks forward to combining his academic and professional experience to perform transaction research, water market analyses, valuation reports, and economic and financial modeling during his internship at WestWater.
Cassidy White, Summer Associate – Idaho
Cassidy White is a Summer Graduate Associate at WestWater Research located in the Main Office in Boise, Idaho. Her responsibilities include analyzing WestWater’s current and previous marketing, education, and outreach initiatives in order to develop a digital marketing strategy. She is also involved in building an economic model to look at the relationship between water availability and water price in southeastern Idaho.
Cassidy is pursuing a master’s degree in Environmental Management at Duke University and is specializing in Water Resources Management. Prior to her graduate studies, Cassidy worked in corporate sustainability, where she conducted research, performed market analyses, and developed water stewardship strategies for Fortune 500 companies. Cassidy graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in Environmental Studies and a B.S. in Biology from the University of Montana in 2018.
Ferrell Daste, Outside Operations Advisor – California
Ferrell Daste is an outside consultant who will assist the firm with client and investment development in the firm’s California market.
Ferrell is the President of Carmel Alternative Investment Solutions, LLC, a strategic advisory firm concentrating in the real assets and agriculture/food categories. Ferrell is based on the Central Coast of California and works in the western US region with a focus on California. Water availability and security are key concerns across all aspects of his business interactions.
Ferrell has consulted to publicly traded multinational trading companies as well as middle market food and agriculture companies developing strategy, identifying partners, and raising assets for permanent crops, fresh produce, and coffee. Ferrell has worked on both domestic and international projects in South America, Australia, and Asia.
Ferrell began his career in Chicago where he was employed on the financial futures exchanges of the CME, CBOT, and CBOE working for companies such as CRT and DE Shaw with a focus on trading. Ferrell worked in financial services for over thirty years for companies such as Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, and Olam International in the US, Hong Kong, and Singapore. During this tenure, Ferrell’s primary responsibilities were hedge fund sales for prime brokerages inclusive of futures clearing and execution services.
Ferrell is a Board Member of Kona Hills, LLC, an institutional specialty coffee farm based in Kona Hawaii.
Clay Landry, WestWater’s Managing Director, says, “It is always exciting when we can expand the WestWater team. The firm has a long history of attracting and retaining talented individuals, and these most recent additions are no exception. Jessica brings a wealth of experience and leadership to the Arizona office, and we are proud to have Bryan with us full-time after completing his graduate degree. I see tremendous potential in Kevin and Cassidy and look forward to mentoring and assisting with the development of their industry knowledge. WestWater is fortunate to have Ferrell Daste on our consulting team, and I look forward to expanding our California market.”