Our Team

John Barelli

President / Owner

John Barelli founded Pure Solutions, Inc., a manufacturer’s representative company focused on water treatment for large industrial users in 1989. Sensing a void in the marketplace, John renamed the company Surplus Management, Inc. in 1998 and narrowed its focus on investment recovery. In 1999, John rebranded the company as WaterSurplus and rolled out a new website. In 2010, WaterSurplus purchased and renovated its current headquarters and now proudly employs over forty people working to replenish the world’s water and serve customer needs. Through thirty years of continued investment in the industry, John has established a foundation for consistent growth and more recently, rapid innovation with our excellent team and industry partners. Prior to starting his own business, John worked as a Technical Salesman Applications Engineer at Illinois Water Treatment. John graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.S. in Chemistry and Biology from Northern Illinois University.

Warren Mathieu

Vice President New Products Division

Warren Mathieu, an expert in reverse osmosis water treatment and ion exchange resin systems, is the Vice President of the New Equipment Division at WaterSurplus. Since joining WaterSurplus in 2000, Warren has developed partnerships with original equipment manufacturers allowing WaterSurplus to stock and showcase hundreds of new products.

Prior to joining WaterSurplus, Warren was Regional Sales Manager at both U.S. Filter and Sybron Chemicals working in Sales and Accounting at Illinois Water Treatment. Warren earned a B.S. in Business Administration and Accounting at Rockford University.

Dileep Agnihotri, PhD

Chief Technology Officer & Beverage Division Lead

Dr. Dileep Agnihotri is an expert in a multitude of water related technologies such as water-chemistry, membrane-based ultrafiltration or reverse-osmosis, high-recovery and high-efficiency beverage water-rooms and produced water treatment. At WaterSurplus, Dr. Agnihotri serves multiple team leader roles including application and process engineering, beverage division operations, technology innovations, research, and product development.

Prior to WaterSurplus, Dileep founded Advanced Hydro, Inc. where he developed and commercialized a novel membrane technology and integrated turn-key UF/RO systems wastewater treatment in the oil and gas industry and on/off-shore seawater desalination. He has also served as a member of the Board of Directors for Thermo Energy, LLC and a principal at 21 Ventures, LLC, providing capital for technology ventures. He also spent time as a Director at Jordan Valley Semiconductors Inc., where he managed technology and applications development along with strategic and technical product marketing. Dr. Agnihotri holds a PhD in Nuclear Chemistry and a MS in Physical Chemistry from the University of Rochester, NY. He also earned a MS degree in Physics (Electronics major) from Agra University. He is widely published with 30+ papers, 1000+ citations, and 12+ pending or issued worldwide patents.

Jim Groose

Senior Vice President Municipal Water Treatment

Jim Groose is the Senior Vice President of Municipal Water Treatment at WaterSurplus. He is an expert in water chemistry, groundwater treatment, municipal water treatment, activated carbon, and PFAS removal. Jim brings his extensive experience in developing successful programs for the sale and rental of water treatment equipment to WaterSurplus. Jim is responsible for overseeing all municipal sales for the company. Jim also developed WaterSurplus’s OxiPlus line of NSF-61-certified filter media that provide superior treatment properties for filtration applications.

Steven Johnson

Senior Vice President of Operations

Steven Johnson, an experienced engineer with over 30 years of experience working within the processes and water treatment industry, is the Senior Vice President of Operations at WaterSurplus. Since joining WaterSurplus in 2012, Steven has brought internal infrastructure and procedural processes to business operations and engineering, increasing production efficiency and improving quality. Steven oversees all operations and works with the production staff on refurbished and new equipment, along with managing plant safety. Steven held several management positions at US Filter/Illinois Water Treatment including Manager of Market Development Specialty Separations Group, Manager of Application Engineering, and Manager of Engineering of the Warren N.J. facility. Steven graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.S. in Industrial Technology with an emphasis in Product Development.

Jeff Anderson

Vice President Surplus Equipment Division

Jeff Anderson, highly experienced in water treatment equipment, RO membranes, and resin regeneration, is the Vice President of the Surplus Equipment Division at WaterSurplus. Since joining WaterSurplus in 2002, Jeff has been buying and selling surplus water treatment equipment across a wide range of market segments. His customer service skills have helped WaterSurplus develop its valuable network of over 10,000 water professionals in more than 80 countries around the world.

Jon Reinke

Vice President Rentals & Site Services

Jon Reinke, an expert in water treatment with over 30 years of experience, has served as Vice President of Rentals & Site Services at WaterSurplus since 2017. Jon is responsible for overseeing the sales, applications engineering, and execution of all rental and service projects. He also focuses on the development and implementation of business strategy for these divisions.

Prior to joining WaterSurplus, Jon owned an independent water treatment consulting firm for twenty years. He was also an Applications and Project Engineer at US Filter and Interlake Water Systems and was a Mechanical Designer/Mechanical Engineer at Illinois Water Treatment. Jon earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Northern Illinois University.

Jim Ryan

Executive Vice President

Jim Ryan has 30+ years of experience in developing and managing public infrastructure projects. Prior to joining WaterSurplus, Jim served as COO for Rock Valley College and as Capital Development manager and City Administrator for the City of Rockford, Illinois. Jim has extensive experience in infrastructure planning and development, public-private financing, grant writing, and operations management.

Andy Zaske

Senior Vice President of Sales

Andy Zaske leads WaterSurplus’ sales and product commercialization efforts. He is an expert in a wide variety of water-related technologies, such as membrane-based systems (UF, NF, and RO), EDI, EDR, media filtration, ion exchange, ozone, etc.  Prior to WaterSurplus, Andy spent 20 years in sales and product management of water treatment systems for Osmonics, GE Water & Process Technologies, and RWL Water.  Andy also spent a decade in sales leadership for industrial factory automation.  Andy completed his master’s studies in Environmental Engineering at the University of Minnesota.  He also earned a BS degree in Physics and Mathematics from Concordia College (Moorhead, MN). Andy has published several technical papers and was issued a patent in water treatment while at GE.