Ellen (nee Stitt) Campbell

As a Walkerton, Ontario native, providing access to clean water has been Ellen Campbell’s calling since 2000, when more than 2,300 people in her hometown became sick and seven people lost their lives after a heavy rainfall event contaminated the drinking water supply with E.coli.

Since earning her Water Quality Technician diploma in 2013, Campbell has nurtured an incredible career. Currently, she is a senior operator and mechanic with the Ontario Clean Water Agency (OCWA) and the marketing manager for the Ontario Association of Sewage Industry Services.

With her educational background and industry experience guiding her, she was able to attend Waterlution’s H20 Global Leadership Training, and participated in their Water Innovation Labs in Australia and Canada. There she was chosen to receive the seed funding for Rain It In, a national non-profit and annual competition she founded that challenges post-secondary students to create innovative solutions to mitigate the impacts of intense rainfall events and floods.

Since graduating, Campbell has returned to her alma mater as a member of the program advisory committee, sharing industry trends and concerns. She also mentors and hires placement students to gain experience through Rain It In, and was part of the Durham College’s Young Women in Science, Trades and Technology Conference as a panelist for the Women in Science: Innovation and Disruption Panel in 2018.