As the deputy director of the California Water Foundation, Andrew Fahlund ’91 leads the strategic direction and management of California philanthropies dedicated to sustainable water management resources. Through this innovative collaboration, Fahlund directs grant-making efforts for the Foundation, supporting non-profit organizations and government agencies that seek reform of policies and practices.

Fahlund has developed and executed advocacy campaigns. One such effort led to the historic passage of California’s 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act and voter approval of Proposition 1, a $7.5 billion state water bond. As senior vice president at American Rivers, Fahlund helped develop advocacy campaigns leading to the designation of 1,100 new miles of Wild and Scenic River, resulting in the removal of more than 200 dams, protecting 500,000 acres of riparian lands, securing $6 billion in new federal clean water funding, and establishing a National Blueways Initiative to build a constituency for rivers.

While executive director for Stanford University’s Water in the West program, Fahlund authored its first strategic plan, facilitated numerous interdisciplinary research projects, co-authored several papers and lectured and advised students at both Stanford and Colorado College. Fahlund received an M.S. in Natural Resource Policy with honors from the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment.

Fahlund will receive the Louis T. Benezet Award from Colorado College during Homecoming 2015. The award recognizes outstanding achievement in one’s chosen field, excellence through unusual success or contribution, innovation or research that has advanced a profession or a cause, and/or extraordinary contributions and achievements that have impacted people’s lives and exemplify the values of a liberal arts education. These attributes characterized the important contributions of the late Louis T. Benezet, president of Colorado College from 1955-63.