Denise Schmidt
Director, Funding Navigator
Denise Schmidt is Director of EPIC’s Funding Navigator, a program to ensure many more water utilities that serve overburdened communities receive state and federal funds for water infrastructure. Denise has over 30 years of experience working with utilities, local, state, and federal agencies, technical assistance providers, and nonprofit organizations. Most recently, Denise was the Administrator of the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin’s Division of Water Utility Regulation and Analysis. Her work on outreach to financially troubled utilities, lead service line replacement, conservation and efficiency, utility staff and stakeholder training, workforce diversity, and other programs helped ensure that the state’s public water utilities have the capacity to provide safe, reliable, affordable, equitable, and environmentally responsible service. Denise has served in various professional and volunteer roles, including staff member and decision maker at the local and regional level, private consultant, instructor at Michigan State University’s Institute of Public Utilities, and leadership positions in state and national water industry organizations. She has a master’s degree from Harvard Kennedy School and a bachelor’s degree from Purdue University.
Get to Know Me Further
I am the daughter of two retired Milwaukee Public School teachers who instilled in me a love for nature and a dedication to public service. My undergraduate science degree and graduate degree in public policy cemented these core values and fueled my curiosity about governance structures, policies, and processes and how to make them work better for the people and ecosystems they’re intended to serve. I believe in the power of robust and equitable civic engagement, data, possibility, and transparency to drive better decisions that ultimately transform communities. I also believe in the restorative properties of playing outside in all the glorious seasons and places Wisconsin has to offer, especially the lakes, streams, and forests of my beloved Northwoods.