Outstanding Service Award Goes to Mary Gugliuzza

Mary Gugliuzza was recognized with the Outstanding Service to AWWA Award at Texas WaterTM 2023, which honors a member of AWWA who has demonstrated outstanding service to the Association through leadership and active participation in AWWA programs.

Gugliuzza is a stellar AWWA and Fort Worth utility representative. She has served the Texas Section and AWWA by teaching and mentoring other public information specialists. She is known for being a "go to" volunteer, someone AWWA and Texas can always depend on for whatever needs doing.

Gugliuzza has dedicated her professional career of writing and communications over the last 27 years to the water sector. Her focus has been with the City of Fort Worth water system and volunteer engagement through AWWA.

She serves on the Fort Worth Water’s executive team, providing the important and often overlooked utility need for media relations, crisis communications, public speaking and website development. She plays a vital role in the utility’s emergency response and maintains partnerships with stakeholders, such as wholesale customers, county public health departments and school districts.

Gugliuzza displays initiative and innovation in her approach to promoting the water industry and AWWA. When she first stepped into the water sector, she admitted to knowing nothing about water; she now considers herself a "water nerd."

She is the busiest during Texas Section conferences, serving on conference committees, developing conference brochures and award booklets, managing awards ceremonies and organizing water tasting contests. All of these activities promote AWWA and water professionals and improve our customers’ knowledge of and appreciation for the work we do.

She received the Texas Water Distinguished Service Award in 2007 from TAWWA and WEAT "for her many years of selfless commitment to the success of the Texas Water Conferences." She has also been recognized numerous times for AWWA membership recruiting.

Gugliuzza has been a tireless AWWA volunteer and has established herself as a leader among her AWWA peers. She continues to demonstrate that leadership at the Section and the AWWA international level through her committee and council participation. She has served as AWWA Director at Large and was recently elected as an AWWA Vice-President.

Gugliuzza served on the AWWA Public Affairs Council 2006-2012 and 2013-2021, serving as chair from 2018 thru 2021. She was instrumental in the development of the "Trending In An Instant" risk communications guide for utility leaders and public communications specialists. She has promoted the need for truthful and complete information to customers.

Gugliuzza is a George Warren Fuller Awardee and, in the spirit of the award, she displays brilliant diplomatic talent and brings confidence to the table when she is called on to communicate emergency circumstances and water utility announcements to the media and the public.