People
The WestWater Research team is an accomplished and respected group of professionals with broad
industry experience in water marketing, regulatory policy, water valuation techniques, financial
investments, commodity trading, resource economics and planning, and GIS technology. Composed of economists,
MBAs, and Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) analysts, the WestWater team has over fifty years combined
experience in the water industry. The WestWater team conducted some of the first, in-depth analyses of water
trading, and have become market leaders throughout the United States. The skills and knowledge acquired in
these competitive trading venues have allowed us to develop a portfolio of innovative and adaptive approaches
to water transactions.
Clay Landry, Managing Director
Clay Landry is the managing director and a principal of WWR. Mr. Landry has negotiated and advised on major water transactions throughout the United States. In 2007 he managed an auction of municipal effluent water rights which closed at $67 million in proceeds for a small city in Arizona. This deal was nominated as Water Deal of the Year by GWI. Under Landry's management, WestWater has advised on more than $600 million in water transactions. In addition, Landry works regularly with private equity and hedge funds in structuring deals and sourcing funds for water development and acquisition projects. Prior to founding WestWater Research, Landry was an associate at the Political Economy Research Center (PERC), a public policy research institute that specializes in market approaches to natural resource management.
Landry is recognized as a leading authority on water pricing and is routinely called upon as an expert witness by clients such as the IRS, U.S. Department of Interior, Indian tribes, municipal governments, and private companies. He has also worked internationally on water-marketing issues in Australia, Brazil, and the United Kingdom. Landry serves as an associate editor for Water Resource Impact, a monthly publication of the American Water Resources Association, and was previously the finance and regulation editor for Global Water Intelligence, an international water industry news magazine published in London, U.K. With a strong commitment to market-based stewardship, Landry helped establish the Montana Water Trust, a private nonprofit that buys and leases water rights for stream flow protection. Landry holds a master's degree in agriculture and resource economics from Oregon State University and a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Wyoming.
Harry Seely, Principal
Mr. Seely has fifteen years of experience in agricultural and water resource economic analysis. Over the last decade, Mr. Seely has applied mathematical programming and econometric analysis techniques to estimate the value of water. In addition, he has developed a variety of economic models as part of interdisciplinary teams to assess the regional economic costs and benefits of water quality, development and reallocation projects throughout the West.
In recent analyses, Mr. Seely has developed and utilized market information, simulation models, and econometric techniques to estimate the market value of water for federal and state agencies, nonprofits, and private industry in support of water project development and reallocation activities. Currently, Mr. Seely is developing and utilizing market information, simulation models, and econometric techniques to estimate the economic value of water for federal surface water storage feasibility studies in California. He has conducted market and financial analyses of proposed private water development projects in the southwest as well as numerous water right appraisals in support of water acquisitions for urban and instream flow purposes. In earlier analyses, he developed an economic optimization model to assess the potential benefits to agricultural production in the Yakima Basin from proposed new surface storage facilities and the economic effects associated with restrictions on irrigation drain water discharge from 100,000 irrigated acres in California’s Central Valley. He holds a M.S. in natural resource and agricultural economics from Oregon State University and a B.S. in economics from Pacific Lutheran University.
George Dorsey, Principal
George Dorsey, a principal with WWR, has more than 25 years of experience in the energy and commodity industries. Mr. Dorsey is the Chief Executive Officer of Edgewood Holdings, LLC. Mr. Dorsey has served in varied senior management roles at Coffeyville Resources, Aquila Energy, Duke Energy, Euro Brokers Incorporated, Associated Metals and Minerals Corporation, Pechiney Ugine Kuhlmann, and Merrill Lynch. Prior to joining WestWater Research, Dorsey was a senior vice president with Duke Energy as well as a group vice president of Aquila where he directed several international trading programs for energy related products. Mr. Dorsey's industrial experience covers natural gas, oil, petrochemicals, air emission allowances, agricultural chemicals, metals, coal, petroleum coke, and other bulk raw materials.Mr. Dorsey currently serves on the board of directors of WestWater, the board of directors of Traxys, and as an operating advisor to the board of Pegasus Capital partners.
Deb Stephenson, Senior Associate
Deborah Stephenson is a Senior Associate at WestWater Research. Ms. Stephenson has worked with municipalities, developers, power plant operators, and environmental groups throughout the Western US on water supply planning and development. Ms. Stephenson also advises private and tribal clients on water right marketing and monetization strategies.. Ms. Stephenson is actively managing the development of a public-private water supply project in Montana which has the potential to provide over 4,000 AF of water to surrounding municipalities. She has performed market analysis and due diligence surrounding various water and land investments and development opportunities throughout the Western US. Additionally, Ms. Stephenson routinely appraises water assets across the United States.
Prior to joining WestWater, Ms. Stephenson works as a Research Analyst at the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC). At PERC Ms. Stephenson researched market-based solutions to environmental issues, published an article highlighting the co-existence of oil drilling and wildlife in Alaska and played an integral role in an advisory team to the Singapore government during its 2004 water supply negotiations with Malaysia. Ms. Stephenson graduated with a BS in Agricultural Business and Economics from the Montana State University in 2001 and a Master's of Business Administration from Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2005.
Jason Hudson, Research Associate
Jason Hudson is a Research Associate with WestWater. Mr. Hudson has assisted in water right valuation studies by researching comparable sales information. Additionally, Mr. Hudson employs his legal training to review contract matters and advise on the impact of administrative agency regulations on water right transferability.
Prior to his work with WestWater Research, Mr. Hudson served as a paralegal and legal research assistant for Beeman & Associates, a law firm in Boise, ID that practices exclusively in the area of water rights issues. In this capacity Jason conducted detailed legal and historical research for complex water rights cases, drafted motions and pleadings for cases before the Snake River Basin Adjudication, and worked with the Idaho Department of Water Resources to assist clients in navigating the administrative process. While at the University Of Colorado Mr. Hudson served as a research intern at the Natural Resources Law Center, working to document transfers of water rights in Colorado and other western states. He also served as a research intern at the Colorado Office of the Attorney General in the Natural Resources & Environment Division where he worked on Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act enforcement issues. His legal studies focused on water law, mining law, and western public lands law. Jason graduated with honors with a BA in Political Science from the University of Georgia in 2003 and a Juris Doctorate from the University Of Colorado School Of Law in 2006.
Matt Payne, Research Associate
Matt Payne is a Research Associate at WestWater Research. As a research associate with WestWater, Mr. Payne has completed water right valuation studies compiled datasets of comparable sales information for a variety of clients including municipalities, investors, and law firms. Matt’s current projects include publishing an article examining water market trends in Colorado’s South Platte basin, and developing a price index for water rights in the West.
Matt is a recent graduate of Colorado College. At Colorado College Mr. Payne focused on environmental and natural resource economics, and gained research experience in the water resources field. Matt has experience estimating the value of water using econometric analysis techniques, and has helped water right buyers and sellers to determine the fair market value of their assets.
Skye Root, Research Associate
Skye Root is a Research Associate at WestWater Research. Prior to WestWater, he played key roles in an international aquatic invasive species project as an Oregon Sea Grant Fellow and a water-energy nexus project for an Oregon consortium as a Research Assistant. He further gained public perspective while working for the Oregon Department of Water Resources as a water policy analyst, and private outlook as a venture capital analyst for the University Venture Fund.
Skye holds a Master’s of Public Policy with an emphasis in rural and agricultural water policy from Oregon State University. He also received his Master’s of Business Administration, graduating with honors, from Oregon State University and earned a graduate certificate in water conflict and management. He holds a BA in Economics from Brigham Young University.
Cory Bolen, GIS Manager
Mr. Bolen has over 6 years of experience working with geographic information systems (GIS). Mr. Bolen has applied his GIS skills to the monitoring and inventorying of natural resources, environmental capital permitting and compliance, environmental risk assessment, and industrial environmental remediation. At WestWater, Mr. Bolen manages the GIS program requiring the management of large spatial datasets, production of various cartographic products and conducting spatial analyses to aid associates in the research process.
Prior to working at WWR, Mr. Bolen served as a GIS Analyst for an environmental consulting firm for three years in Colorado. Mr. Bolen began his career in the geospatial industry working for the Bureau of Reclamation’s Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Group where he inventoried, mapped and described vegetation communities for National Park Service units across the western United States. Mr. Bolen holds a M.S. in Forest Sciences from Colorado State University, as well as a B.S. in Forest Resources from the University of Idaho.