The Boards of both The Clean Water Professionals of Kentucky & Tennessee (CWP-KT) and the Kentucky/Tennessee American Water Works Association (KY/TN AWWA) know that we must invest in our current water industry workforce to develop our next generation of leaders. The leadership of today will be retiring over the next 10 years, and accordingly we need to identify, train, develop, and deploy the leadership of tomorrow.

We will be launching the 9th annual WPLA program in October of 2026. The program will include six sessions from October 2026 to May 2027, with graduation at the 2027 Water Professionals Conference in Chattanooga, TN

In order to keep our tuition affordable, we have established three sponsorship opportunities for KY/TN AWWA and CWP-KT members (utilities, consultants, suppliers, etc.), detailed below. Applicants of sponsor organizations will receive consideration when selecting candidates for future Leadership Academy classes.

SUSTAINING SPONSOR - $1,400
Sustaining sponsors help underwrite the costs of the WPLA program and receive the following benefits:
• Logo recognition on sign board and at all events between instruction 
• Participation at happy hour/dinner at one (1) session for one (1) sponsor representative 
• Recognition at WPC during graduation ceremony 
• Attendance at WPC Leadership Academy graduate recognition luncheon for one (1) sponsor representative

SESSION SPONSOR - $700
We offer Session Sponsor opportunities (2 sponsors per session) , which help to underwrite the cost of each session and include the following benefits: 
• Open/close session or introduce instructors at the sponsored session 
• Logo recognition at all events between instruction 
• Participation at the sponsored session happy hour/dinner for one (1) sponsor representative 
• Recognition at WPC during graduation ceremony

UTILITY SPONSOR
Utilities can serve as host sites. The 2026-27 session sites have been selected, but please let us know if your utility is interested in hosting a session for the 2027-28 program. These sponsorships include the following benefits: 
• Assist with developing session program 
• Provide classroom space and tour at no charge to the WPLA
• Open/close session or introduce instructors at session 
• Opportunity to assist with session content 
• Recognition at session 
• Participation at the sponsored session happy hour/dinner for 1-2 representatives
• Recognition at WPC during graduation ceremony