What Is An Entrepreneur’s Greatest Trait?

Laura is a 1987 graduate of The Ohio State University, with a degree in Business Administration. She has more than 29 years of experience working in the water and wastewater industries. Prior to founding 360water, Inc. she was the President of Smith Environmental, a company selling large municipal equipment.

Through her experience selling equipment, Laura recognized the traditional method of delivering critical operation and maintenance training to staff was flawed. Equipment is typically the largest investment for a utility and the training for new equipment is minimal. Lacking any way to test staff for comprehension of the training and a way to capture the training for staff who did not attend the start-up training seemed to be a serious gap in planning for long-term operating success of the equipment and the facility.

Creating comprehensive training courses that capture information from the equipment manufacturer's manuals, input from the design engineers, as well as institutional knowledge obtained through interviews with long-time plant staff and housing it in an online library for "on demand" delivery to utility staff was Laura's solution to fill the knowledge capture, knowledge transfer gap.

360water, Inc., celebrates more than 19 years in business and continues to grow as the leader in online education for the water and wastewater industries. Laura's innovative training concept is utilized by over 100 municipalities throughout the country. The company's success is largely due to Laura's drive, focus, and entrepreneurial spirit.