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Tom Kula: 6 Years of Accomplishments at North Texas Municipal Water District
T
om Kula recently retired as the executive director of the North Texas Municipal Water District (NTMWD). After serving 32 years in the U.S. Army, Mr. Kula went on to serve people in a different way by spending 6 years at NTMWD, helping to ensure the 1.8 million people it serves had access to the vital water resources they require. In this second phase of his professional life, Mr. Kula tackled many challenges confronting NTMWD in its ongoing quest for new opportunities to fully serve the region. Municipal Water Leader: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position.
20 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER | July/August 2020
Former NTMWD Executive Director Tom Kula.
poverty—something most Americans just cannot imagine. I saw a young mother with a toddler, washing herself and her child with the water in a roadside ditch—an image I’ve never forgotten. They had no access to clean, safe water to bathe in or to drink. Readily available safe water is so important to public health. We are blessed and fortunate in the United States, and we should not take that for granted. I was proud to serve at NTMWD with our team of professionals to provide those essential services. Municipal Water Leader: How did you hear about the position at NTMWD? Tom Kula: I was due to retire from the military, and when I mentioned to a friend that I was working on my résumé, he told me that NTMWD’s current executive director was retiring and suggested that I would be a good fit for the position. It sounded perfect, so I quickly applied, had multiple interviews, and was hired. I formally retired from the army, and about 3 weeks later, in May 2014, took over the executive director position. Municipal Water Leader: Would tell us about your time at NTMWD and discuss some of the biggest tasks that you and the district worked on during that time? Tom Kula: Over the past 6 years, we took on the opportunity to successfully lead and manage change. Our service area is one of the fastest-growing areas in Texas. When I started with NTMWD, the district was serving 1.5 million people. Today, just 6 years later, that number is 1.8 million. The population municipalwaterleader.com
PHOTOS COURTESY OF NTMWD.
Tom Kula: I grew up on the Illinois shores of Lake Michigan, in a small town called North Chicago, about 30 miles north of the city of Chicago. We lived by the lake, and I loved to swim and fish. Our family vacations always included visits to wonderful Midwest lakes. I’ve always been drawn to water. Later in life, I figured that out. Water is life! I graduated from West Point Military Academy in 1982 as a civil engineer and spent 32 years in the U.S. Army, finishing up in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, where I retired as a brigadier general. That segment of my career ended 6 years ago, at which time I was in charge of the Southwestern Division of the Army Corps, which is headquartered in Dallas. That position had brought me to Texas, and because I liked the area, the people, and the weather, I retired here. In that last position, I supported military construction and civil works projects across parts of five states: Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, southern Kansas, and southern Missouri. Among those civil works projects were a total of 90 reservoirs in that five-state region, and I had the opportunity to visit a lot of the lakes that the Army Corps operated and managed, mostly for flood control but also often for water supply. When I was contemplating retirement, I realized I wanted a second career in the water industry. When I became aware of the availability of the executive director position at NTMWD, I knew it was a perfect opportunity to continue to serve the public. I had always wanted to do something that involved water resources. The district serves 1.8 million North Texans with essential services, including safe reliable drinking water, wastewater services, and solid waste services. The opportunity to help provide essential services really mattered to me. Many years ago I saw something that left a lasting impression on me about how precious safe, clean drinking water is. During my army career, about 25 years ago, I was in Haiti. I was driving along one of the main roads in Port-au-Prince and was struck by the sheer level of
