Ben Erker joined Global Brigades in January 2009 to help develop and coordinate the Water Brigades program in Honduras. Four the next four years he managed the implementation of numerous clean water projects, while coordinating over sixty Water Brigades. From 2013 – 2015, Ben worked as Development Program Officer in Honduras, overseeing the operation of the holistic model and its program teams in the country. Starting in January 2016, Ben began his current position as GB Director of Impact & Evaluation in charge of impact measurement and reporting, program monitoring and evaluation, and supervising local M&E teams in GB’s programming countries.
Ben received his B.S. in Civil & Environmental Engineering from Bucknell University, which included a semester of study in Perth, Western Australia. During his time at Bucknell Ben made his first of many trips to Honduras which inspired him to further pursue water and sanitation issues in developing countries. Ben went on to receive his M.S. in Civil & Environmental Engineering from the University of California – Davis focusing on water quality, drinking water and wastewater treatment. While at UC Davis, Ben spent a month in rural Uganda working on sustainable drinking water and sanitation solutions. Before joining Global Brigades, Ben participated in a wide range of research projects investigating the effect of microorganisms on arsenic concentration in groundwater, small water system treatment techniques, anaerobic digestion of food waste, and evaporation effects of development in watersheds.
