AWWA Management Bios

David LaFrance 
Executive Director

David LaFrance is the Executive Director for AWWA. He served as director of finance for Denver Water for 12 years and is a respected industry leader in the areas of utility economics and water rates. 

Prior to being named director of finance at Denver Water in 1998, LaFrance served as the utility's manager of rate administration for five years. From 1988–93, he worked as a utility rate economist with the global engineering and consulting firm CH2M Hill in Denver and Portland, Ore., and from 1986 to 1988 he was a natural resources economist with the US Army Corps of Engineers in Portland.

LaFrance earned an MBA in finance from the University of Colorado–Denver in 1992 and a BS in economics from Lewis and Clark College in Portland in 1986. He lives in Denver with his wife, Justine, and two children, Sierra and Devon.

Tom Curtis
Deputy Executive Director of Government Affairs

Tom Curtis is Deputy Executive Director for Government Affairs for AWWA.  Prior to assuming this position, he served for more than 20 years with several public policy associations, including Director of the Natural Resources Committee of the National Governors’ Association, and Deputy Director for Intergovernmental Liaison with the Environmental Council of the States.  Curtis has over a dozen years of experience working closely with Congress and the Environmental Protection Agency on drinking water and other environmental issues.

Curtis holds a Bachelors degree in Political Science and a Masters Degree in Public Administration from West Virginia University.  As an undergraduate, he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, the national scholastic society.  He worked for two governors in West Virginia and is a Vietnam veteran.

He resides in Arlington, Virginia, with his wife and two children.

Paula I. MacIlwaine
Deputy Executive Director

Ms. MacIlwaine was selected as the AWWA Deputy Executive Director in May 2004.
Ms. MacIlwaine first joined AWWA in 1986, as the Personnel Administrator and Facilities Manager.  From 1989-1998, she was the Director of Member and Section Services/Manager of Section Services, and from 1998, she was the Director, Convention, Education & Section Services.

Ms. MacIlwaine has over 19 years experience in leading staff and volunteers.  She is recognized by staff and volunteers as placing a high value on customer service and support.  Ms. MacIlwaine has strong, proven team-building skills with expertise in corporate communication, facilitation, and leadership training.  She has solid, hands-on experience managing educational programs that provide current technical, regulatory, and management information to customers.

Ms. MacIlwaine is an alumnus of the University of Northern Colorado with a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology.

She lives in Denver with her husband, Dunnigan.  They have two children named Graeme and Ian.