Nancy Tate, EdD – President
Nancy spent 35 years in higher education. Her career culminated at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas as the Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs. Prior to that role, Nancy was an Associate Professor and Chair of the Computer Information Sciences department as well as the Associate Dean for the College of Arts and Sciences. In those roles, Nancy dealt with large budgets, financial planning and oversight of education quality. She has significant experience with technology and technical writing. Nancy manages the business side of T8 Environmental as well as having editorial oversight of all publications. Nancy received her undergraduate degree at the University of Kansas, her Master of Science at Pittsburg State University, and her doctorate at Oklahoma State University.
Mike Tate, PE – Vice President
Mike has over 35 years of experience in the environmental engineering field. Mike began his career with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) primarily dealing with Clean Water Act (CWA) and Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) programs outside of a brief hiatus in the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) program. Mike retired from KDHE as the Director of the Bureau of Water. Throughout his time at KDHE Mike oversaw all aspects of the Clean Water Act including permit development, operator certification, compliance and enforcement. Mike was a key person in developing and adopting both water policy and regulation.
Mike’s pragmatic and collaborative approach to improving water quality was recognized by many organizations outside of KDHE and led to numerous speaking engagements as well as participation in the development of the Water Environment Federation Nutrient Roadmap and on National Academy of Science panels tackling water quality issues. Mike and his staff were also recognized as innovators in Clean Water Act implementation and were always willing to help other states overcome their challenges.
After retiring from KDHE, Mike spent nearly six years with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in their Region 7 office. While at EPA, Mike continued to work to find collaborative solutions to thorny water quality problems facing the four Region 7 states – particularly the implementation of new regulation on antidegradation and permit variances. Mike was also passionate about seeking affordable and sustainable resolution of infrastructure and water quality challenges faced by the many small communities that exist in Region 7. These small community challenges were elevated to a national discussion and resulted in greater agency understanding of the plight of small communities. Mike continued to contribute nationally on the topic of nutrient reduction and the proper balance between wastewater treatment and nonpoint source contributions.
Mike is a licensed Professional Engineer in Kansas. He earned both his BS degree in Civil Engineering and his MS degree in Bioenvironmental Engineering from Oklahoma State University.
Mike’s experiences with state and federal environmental regulation provide him a unique perspective on how to most cost effectively and collaboratively implement the CWA. He would like to use that experience to assist you with your CWA needs.