“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead
The Open Water Foundation (OWF) staff consists of a small team of technically-focused people that have a strong interest in developing and applying open source software technologies to complex water resource problems. Our work contributes to solutions for a broad range of challenges, including water supply, climate change, conservation, workforce development, and education. Key staff biographies are listed below. OWF also employs paid interns in order to provide opportunities for young people to gain experience in a technical field. Together, we continue to support and enhance software that has been previously developed, and we work together on research and development projects for new solutions.
Steve Malers – Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Technology Officer
Although my education was in civil engineering (Colorado State University), I have worked as a software/systems engineer for most of my career. My primary interests are in helping organizations understand complicated multifaceted problems and implementing understandable, usable software solutions. After focusing on technical details earlier in my career, I am now focusing more attention on understanding the broader connections between system components, including the legal, political, environmental, and social aspects of water resources. I founded the Open Water Foundation because there is a need to apply the collaborative approach of open source software development to meet the technology and information needs of the water resources domain.
As CEO and CTO at the Open Water Foundation, I spend much of my time immersed in software technologies for water resources, including developing software and integrated data management and analysis systems. However, because OWF is a small organization, I also am heavily involved in marketing, sales, operations, and other organizational activities. OWF focuses on software product development, support, and integration, in order to support and amplify the efforts of other organizations, including government, consulting companies, universities, and other nonprofit organizations. I work with organizations and individuals in water resources and talk the language of water and information technologies.
Examples of my work include leading the effort to move the State of Colorado’s decision support system software to open source projects (see: OpenCDSS), developing software and information for the Poudre Basin Information (open in new tab) website, and continuing to evolve OWF’s business model to be sustainable and provide public benefit.
To contact Steve directly, please call 970-286-7462 or e-mail steve.malers@openwaterfoundation.org
Josh Keahey – Software Engineer
I am a Colorado native and have lived in Fort Collins for over 30 years. I graduated from Colorado State University in the spring of 2019 with a degree in Computer Science and a minor in Mathematics. I’ve been working at Open Water Foundation for almost 2 years and am very grateful for the opportunity to learn new things every day, contribute to projects that help solve water problems, and gain professional experience in a multitude of areas. Climate change has been an important issue, and will only become more crucial in the future. Water is one of the foundational resources that will be – and already is – affected by climate change. Over the past few years, I’ve learned just how important water is, how much it is taken for granted, and how interesting the data can be.
To contact Josh directly, please e-mail josh.keahey@openwaterfoundation.org
Previous OWF Interns
OWF takes pride in being able to help interns gain valuable professional experience as they contribute to OWF projects and prepare for their careers after graduation.
Sofia Gonzalez 
Jessica Filben
Justin Rentie
Katherine Bagnuolo
Kory Clark – “My experience at the Open Water Foundation as a student intern was extremely educational. During my time there, I learned all the ins and outs of JIRA, GitHub, data visualization, JAXB, SNODAS data, as well as a few different coding languages. One of the major things I learned while working at OWF is how important it is to provide helpful, intuitive documentation that can later be used by clients, coworkers, and anyone else that will be dealing with data and or source code. I also learned how to properly use multiple different data visualization frameworks that I have incorporated in projects at other companies. I am exceptionally grateful for my time working with OWF and learned about topics that if not for this internship I would have never learned.”
Kelsey Dudziak
Marcel Fiore – “I learned invaluable skills during my time at Open Water Foundation. I learned a lot about web development, some useful tools that make developing web applications easier and better as well as how to find them. In addition, I learned a lot about user experience and how to develop web applications in a way that make them easy to use. Being an intern at Open Water Foundation was extremely helpful for learning important skills that will push me ahead in my career. I appreciate this opportunity and would not be the person I currently am if it were not for OWF.”
James Hansen
Chris Jarrett
Elizabeth Mahon
Austin Severin