March 2025 marks the one-year anniversary of Tanya Moniz-Witten taking on the role of President of San Jose Water. To celebrate, Pal Hollywood sat down with Tanya to ask some of the questions SJW employees and customers may still want to know, including what Tanya thinks of SJW, working in water, and being back in the Bay Area. Stick around to the end to read Tanya’s reaction to an old secret of hers that an SJW employee uncovered!
You had a busy first year in office, from throwing out the first pitch for the SJ Giants at Water Awareness Night to hosting our most attended Operation Gobble charity event, to speaking on leadership and utility panels at conferences around the country – and that’s just the extracurriculars on top of your day-to-day job. Is there an activity that most surprised or delighted you so far?
Throwing out the first pitch is up there, given that my son posted it on Instagram, it was sweet. It was nice to be out there with everyone, especially the choir! So that was really precious.
I think too, one of the things that surprised me in this first year is that there are so many commonalities between the utility spaces. Because when I first got the call from the recruiting company, I said, have you read my LinkedIn? I don't know anything about water! But there are a lot of similarities in the utility space, especially in a regulated utility in California, and running operations. And the people are very similar in the pride they have for the job.
What about the opposite of that, is there anything that surprised you about working specifically in water, having come from an electric utility?
The surprising thing to me is that I used to think the electricity space could be dangerous, and I didn't think about water in that same context. But then as you think about it, people drink your water, so there is a lot of risk associated with that and you have to be so diligent in your approach. Just being so conscious of the contaminants. I’ve been introduced to PFAS and the lead and copper concerns, and it's very serious in nature.
I’ve heard people point out that water is the only utility that's ingested.
Exactly. You have to be very, very diligent. What gives me a lot of comfort is our engineering and operations department, and the level of sophistication they have with our water.
When you took this job, you moved back to the Bay Area from Massachusetts. Is there something you miss, or have been enjoying now that you’re back here?
I really love Boston. When I was in Boston, it was different because my husband and I were going to be empty nesters. We got a condo in downtown Boston, it was completely different than our suburban home in San Mateo. We went down to one car, and everything was walkable. And there is nothing like fall in Boston. It’s just beautiful.
But I definitely missed the California weather. I forgot how warm it is here, and how light it is outside for a longer period of time. And nothing beats the Mexican food here.
You cannot get Mexican food on the east coast.
You can’t. Like people [on the East Coast] say, ‘oh, you gotta try this place,’ but if you’re from California, you know.
And I missed my San Francisco Giants, the 49ers… It was really fun when Golden State beat the Celtics when I was out there. So I missed the sports.
That's what I was going to ask next - go Giants? Go 49ers? Who do you follow?
Definitely Niners. In the Super Bowl I didn't care about Kansas City or Philadelphia, but it was so nice to see Kansas City lose, because they beat us and it was traumatizing.
Yes it was.
I jumped on the bandwagon for the Warriors, too. We have a family bucket list, and one of the wishes was to go to a finals NBA game. We went to watch the Warriors play and it was amazing. So I do love California sports.
Would you say West Coast, Best Coast?
Okay, I think West Coast, Best Coast - for living, definitely. But some of my best memories with family or friends are traveling to the big cities of Boston and New York. So the East Coast, there's something really special about that, too. But I do not mind having sunshine year round and being spoiled by it. My mom and dad were born and raised in Hawaii, so we do love the sunshine.
When you're not working, how are you spending your time? What do you like to do?
Some majority of my life was centered around the kids and their sports. They played all kinds of sports, but travel baseball was a big one. And like I said, we have Giants season tickets, so baseball is big, definitely.
Also, I used to be a competitive Irish dancer when I was younger, all the way up until college. I even went to nationals every year. Three decades later, I thought, wouldn't it be nice to do that again? I'm in Boston, it's an Irish town. So I found a place that does adult Irish dancing. It was fantastic - I mean, the first day after practice, I could not walk. I was using body parts that I haven't in a very long time.
Coming back to the Bay Area, I haven't got back into that but that is something I'd like to do. I work out religiously now, and I didn't do that for a very long time because of my boys and being at their sports games and not focusing on myself. But now the gym and I have established a new relationship.
I was going to ask for something employees still might not know about you, but I think you just answered that with your Irish step dancing. Is there anything else?
Well, I mentioned my parents were born and raised in Hawaii. I have a lot of family there, it's very special to us. I got married there, and I want to retire there. But I don't know if people know, I'm a quarter Asian. My mom is an Asian mix. My grandmother actually came over on a boat from Korea. And my grandfather was Chinese. He was one of the first dentists on the Hawaiian islands! So, that’s my family story.
Since you've been able to go out and job shadow with a lot of different employees, what job at SJW would you most like to have if you could trade?
So first of all, I couldn't do a number of them because I'm not qualified. They're so technical. And I'm actually jealous of all of our employees for that. But a job I’d like… I think Jared (Lewis) has a really great job, because of the location. The watershed, Lake Elsman… What's nice about working in water that's very different - one of the questions you asked me previously - the places are majestic. I really like the roles that get to be outside and get to tend to that space.
I think too, I'm jealous of Josh (Karpel)'s role because that's like the bread and butter, to be overseeing a treatment plant. I think it is remarkable to understand all the technical components of that. The engineering and construction folks who get to build our big projects or work on our pipelines, it’s very cool. So I don't know if I can pick just one job.
Since you mentioned things that we build, I’m sure you know that at SJW, new facilities and properties are often named after company presidents. Have you put any thought into what you want named after you, or what you think would be named after you, if we were to do something 10 or 20 years down the road?
I would be so honored to come out to that, I’ll bring my cane or walker…
Well if I had to choose, [in the future] I wish we'll have success in building a brackish desalination plant. I know that's very challenging right now, where we have started trying to find potential solutions, so maybe down the line. I think anything that helps with providing a water source or an alternative source for our customers, I think would be fantastic [to be named after].
So maybe not a wastewater treatment plant.
No, yes, that would be a secondary choice.
Now that you're entering year two as President of San Jose Water, what are your plans?
Employee safety is a huge focus. We're going to be standardizing a lot of things in addition to the PPE. We've kicked off our program of getting the supervisors and leadership out in the field. That's a big thing, and that's not just about safety. It's about engagement and getting to know what our folks do. Having that general appreciation, identifying barriers and fixing them. There are ways in which we can operate that streamline processes, remove barriers and obstacles for our team, make it easier and smoother, and getting the employees who do the work engaged and giving us that feedback is key.
Looking at affordability for our customers is a focus, too. That's why operational excellence is important. But also looking for alternatives to help our customers be able to pay their bills and make it affordable. Whether it's looking at grants, whether it's looking at other opportunities for supply of water - things like that. [This year] I’m prioritizing getting out into the communities that we serve and helping the small businesses, the neighborhood organizations, and building those relationships.
Emergency preparedness is top of mind, too, because of what happened in LA with the wildfires. What are we doing from a resiliency perspective? How are we partnering with the various city officials and the fire departments and making sure that we have a very hardened system? And that comes back to operational excellence, too.
One last thing. I have a source that told me you were a teacher at Hillsdale High School in a past life. An anonymous SJW employee might even have yearbook photos of you - we don’t have to say what class year.
You can say anonymous but I know who you are, [redacted]. I'm coming for you.
So you can confirm this is you?
Yes, this is me. Oh my goodness. Yes, I was a teacher at Hillsdale High School.
After college, I was working corporate in the environmental field, in hazardous waste management. But I wanted to give back, too, so I tutored juvenile delinquents in math. The [program organizers] always said ‘You are making such good progress, the students usually don't pay attention and study, you're really good with children.’ So I decided that I wanted to be a teacher and got my teaching credentials.
When I was a teacher I coached varsity softball, too, because I wasn't just going to teach of course. I started clubs and coached sports and taught math full time. I really enjoyed working at Hillsdale, but then the dot com crash happened, and I decided it would be best to go back into corporate work. But I loved every moment of teaching.
It’s pretty cool that you worked in so many different fields and so many different places, but have ended up back here in the bay area and serving the community and environment again.
Tanya, thanks for answering my questions today so we could all get to know you a little better! SJW is lucky to have you at the helm, and we’re looking forward to more great years ahead. You’ll have to stick around until we build a desalinization plant to name after you.