Michael A. Byerley

Chairman & Chief Executive Officer

Michael serves as the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Global Water Technology, Inc. (GWT). In this capacity, Michael is responsible for shaping the company’s vision for sustainable growth and service excellence while, beyond executive decision-making, embodying the company’s ethos by serving as its principal ambassador and strategist in the constantly evolving water technology landscape.

Michael joined GWT in 2009 as a Service and Sales Intern and full-time in 2011 as an Account and Business Development Manager after completing his studies at Northwestern University. Michael, the son of the company’s founder, Maria E. Villarreal-Byerley, was the first and only of the next generation of the Byerley family to join GWT. Michael’s initial focus was to provide clients with on-site technical and account management services while trying to grow the company via new client and talent acquisition.

In recognition for Michael quickly stabilizing and growing the company in profitability, top-line revenue, and personnel, he was promoted to Vice President in 2013, expanding his purview to include day to day operation of the company’s administrative, vendor management, sales, and marketing activities. Notably, in 2015, Michael led the company in its pursuit of its first acquisition, Midwest Products & Consultants, Inc., (MPC), successfully closing and transitioning the business into the GWT family over the course of the next year. The acquisition of MPC would mark the company’s initial foray into the mergers and acquisitions landscape and set the tone and framework for a unique, but much welcomed, acquisition approach aimed at preserving the culture, legacy, and qualities that made acquired companies successful.

In 2016, Maria retired from GWT allowing Michael to assume the role of President and become the sole shareholder. Michael remains the only shareholder, affording the company a unique type of autonomy, operational flexibility, and continual reinvestment leading to exponential, stable year over year growth. Under Michael’s leadership, GWT has evolved from a small-regional water services firm to a national powerhouse, achieving remarkable growth, expanding its service and fulfillment capabilities across the United States, launching new product and service lines, and completing fifteen acquisitions. Michael has also established a strong and empowered leadership team, a state-of-the-art manufacturing and R&D center, and a customer and employee centric corporate culture. Michael’s mission is to define, protect, and grow the vision of the company for the indefinite future, and to continue positioning Global Water Technology as the next generation of water solutions.

Michael attributes his success leading GWT to many factors, but specifically highlights his time working in the business and the roles mentors have played over his career in his development as a leader. Working in the business, across a wide variety of roles, provided Michael with a technical comprehension of products and services offered, an understanding of the trials and tribulations each member of the team faces daily, and a perspective of how to uniquely approach building a modern water services firm.  Mentorship, provided by individuals within the company, the industry, and acquired businesses has allowed Michael to avoid the pitfalls others in his position have encountered and to capitalize and grow on the progress and legacy that others have entrusted to him.