Christy Harner

Christy Harner, VP of Marketing Communications at ZwitterCo

Boston, April 2, 2024—ZwitterCo, the advanced membrane technology company, has added marketing veteran Christy Harner as Vice President of Marketing Communications. Harner joins ZwitterCo as it continues to expand the adoption of its breakthrough water filtration and reuse technology to new markets worldwide. 

ZwitterCo specializes in unlocking new sources of water and enabling the reuse of wastewater through its cutting-edge zwitterionic membrane technology. This patented solution stands out as a breakthrough in the industry, offering resistance to fouling and marking the first major innovation in membrane chemistry for industrial water treatment in decades.

Harner’s addition to the ZwitterCo leadership team is timely, as the company is rapidly advancing its efforts to support industries with water recycling and contributing to global water crisis solutions. Harner will play a crucial role in driving global awareness of ZwitterCo’s innovative membrane technology, telling customer stories from around the world, and engaging with channel partners to champion the business and climate impact of ZwitterCo products to new markets. 

“ZwitterCo’s technology platform marks a significant leap forward in membrane innovation, and we are committed to leveraging our solutions for global water security,” said Alex Rappaport, co-founder and CEO of ZwitterCo. “Christy’s proven experience in building world-class marketing operations is essential to ZwitterCo’s next phase of growth. Her dual-focused approach will not only amplify our narrative on the global stage, emphasizing resource resiliency and our substantial impact on the world, but will also address critical business challenges such as enhancing demand generation and fostering exceptional experiences in customer and partner engagement.”

As Vice President of Marketing Communications, Harner brings two decades of experience growing and leading marketing teams for innovative tech and climate-focused companies. She previously led marketing and brand strategy for B2B technology companies including MANN+HUMMEL, as well as channel partnership initiatives for iconic brands such as SAP Concur and JPMorgan Chase. Christy has also started several innovation companies, including serving as the co-founder and CEO of Encore Earth, a company that removes PFAS chemicals from wastewater sludge. Most recently, Harner was the Chief Marketing Officer for AURA Technologies, a leading health, safety, and security technology provider. 

“Addressing the global clean water crisis has been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember,” said Harner. “I’m thrilled to join ZwitterCo at this pivotal time in history to begin telling the stories of our customers championing sustainable water treatment and reuse. ZwitterCo’s story impacts people worldwide, and together we can bring about a transformative change in water management practices.”

This announcement follows a year of notable achievements for ZwitterCo, including the expansion of its leadership team, welcoming Chris Ling as the new Chief Financial Officer and Jennifer Rehder as Vice President of Operations. The company was named to Fast Company’s prestigious list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies of 2024 and received the Breakthrough Technology Company of the Year Award at the Global Water Summit in 2023. ZwitterCo also inked an exclusive, multi-year partnership with Mott Corporation to deliver waste solutions for manure and food-waste digesters, breweries, and distilleries in North America last year. 

Recently, ZwitterCo debuted its newest product, a zwitterionic reverse osmosis (RO) membrane, which is the first brackish water RO membrane built using fouling-immune technology that lasts two times longer and reduces cleaning up to 90%. The new RO membrane comes on the heels of ZwitterCo opening its 30,000-square-foot innovation center, accelerating the development of its products and providing a research and prototyping space for innovation. 

About ZwitterCo

ZwitterCo’s membranes solve the most complex separation challenges, providing industries with the tools for advanced wastewater treatment and water reuse. The company leverages zwitterions’ remarkable organic fouling-immune technology to build membranes that enable years of operating life in hard-to-treat streams that would ruin conventional membranes in hours. ZwitterCo’s products are used in digestates, leachates, and various food & beverage wastewaters. The company has been recognized as Breakthrough Technology Company of the Year at the Global Water Summit and by the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation as a leader in clean water technologies. For more information, visit https://www.zwitterco.com/.