Make Water Work Podcast Featuring Cristina Ahmadpour

Episode 49: Cristina Ahmadpour - Beyond Pilots & Scaling Innovation

In this episode of Make Water Work, Isaac Pellerin sits down with Cristina Ahmadpour, President and Managing Director, Americas at Isle Utilities, who has spent over a decade helping water utilities identify and adopt emerging technology. After 11 years leading Isle's US business, Cristina shares a candid look at what leadership has taught her about innovation, and why so many good ideas never make it past the pilot stage.

In this episode, we cover:

• How Cristina discovered, years into her career, that her grandfather helped build the dam infrastructure that brought water security to cities like Isfahan and Tehran
• Why real innovation isn't just new technology, but a full cycle that only counts once it's actually adopted and scaled
• The people and leadership gaps that make innovation harder in water than it needs to be
• Cristina's take on the "pilot to scale" gap: why vendors need more discipline in choosing early adopters, and why chasing scale too fast can backfire
• Why "performance guarantees" and skin-in-the-game deals could fix the industry's pilot-to-RFP problem
• Why water utilities shouldn't want to hear the word "disruptive," and what language works instead
• Lessons from 11 years in leadership: saying yes to opportunities, building the right team, and not compromising on culture
• Where Isle Utilities fits into the water innovation landscape today, 21 years after its founding

If you work in water innovation, utility leadership, or technology adoption, this conversation offers a grounded, honest look at what it actually takes to move a good idea from pilot to practice.