Insights
Look How The TRC Integrity Team Has Grown!
This has been an exciting year for the TRC Integrity Team! We have significantly grown with some of the top regulatory, operator qualification, corrosion and engineering talent in the industry which has allowed us to provide more to our clients.
Major changes to our world and industry in 2020 provided us with some innovative and unique opportunities from our clients which allowed us to to grow and add talent to enhance our integrated services and holistic approach to risk, data management, engineering, regulatory compliance and integrity management. We will continue to invest in top talent in 2021, and we very much look forward to continuing to provide our clients with best-in-class service.
Thank you to our loyal clients and everyone on the TRC Integrity Team for a very different and rewarding 2020, and we look forward to even bigger and better 2021!
Edward “Buzz” Fant – Director, Pipeline Regulatory Services
Buzz has 40 years of experience as a pipeline safety professional. He started his career as an Engineering Technician with the Railroad Commission of Texas inspecting natural gas and hazardous liquid pipelines to ensure compliance with all pipeline safety regulations. Following his tenure with the State, he was a Pipeline Safety Specialist at DOT’s Transportation Safety Institute, the precursor to PHMSA’s Training and Qualification Center (T&Q) where he trained federal and state pipeline safety inspectors and conducted pipeline safety seminars to pipeline operators throughout the United States. Prior to joining TRC, he was the Director, Compliance Codes and Standards for one of America’s largest midstream energy companies where he ensured compliance in all facets of pipeline operations including design, construction, operation and maintenance.
Buzz has served on various American Petroleum Institute (API) and Association of Oil Pipelines (AOPL) committees and workgroups and is a past member of the Technical Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Standards Committee (THLPSSC), informally known as the Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Advisory Committee (LPAC).
Contact Buzz at BFant@trccompanies.com
Brad McCord – Operator Qualifications Specialist
Brad has many years of experience in liquids operations with two major operators in the industry, Sunoco Logistics (Energy Transfer Partners) and Kinder Morgan, Inc. His involvement included field operations, control room operations, training coordinator, CRM (control room management) development and specializing in operator qualifications.
Recently, he has planned, organized and hosted multiple OQ college classes for Kinder Morgan’s liquids terminals group, which involves a classroom environment to train employees on their assigned OQ covered tasks and the associated procedures. He has also been involved with development OQ supporting documents, including test questions and assisted with various other compliance assignments as needed.
Brad calls Atlanta, Georgia home and in his spare time he enjoys spending time with his family, especially his grandchildren camping (glamping) on the lake.
Contact Brad at BMcCord@trccompanies.com
Grady McWhorter – Operator Qualification Specialist
Grady is an experienced pipeline engineer in both natural gas distribution and refined liquids petroleum products pipelines. He has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Auburn University and is presently in-active as a Professional Engineer in the state of Georgia. In the pipeline industry, he has been active in operations, development of personnel, procedure development and compliance plans. These include the application of public safety regulations and transitioning to new generational equipment or requirements.
In his spare time, Grady enjoys traveling, woodworking and gardening and of course the kids and grandkids.
Contact Grady at GMcWhorter@trccompanies.com
C.M. Nelson – Senior Technical Advisor
C.M. has been involved with pipelines and cathodic protection for 38 years. His initial years were spent working for pipeline companies in the field and then he transitioned to the manufacturing world for cathodic protection equipment. He was responsible for designing equipment, providing custom solutions to CP issues and providing training to the corrosion industry for over 30 years on CP rectifiers, junction boxes and related equipment.
C.M. has been a member of NACE for over 30 years and serves as a mentor in the NACE Foundation Workforce Development program. He is a graduate of Texas A&M University and has a BS in Mechanical Engineering Technology. Gig’em!
Contact C.M. at CMNelson@trccompanies.com
Wendy Zheng – Corrosion Engineer
Wendy holds a PhD degree in chemistry and a master’s degree in civil and environmental engineering. She has more than five years’ working experience in the corrosion field including lab testing, cathodic protection design and pipeline integrity management. She has delivered quality work in corrosion protection design, corrosion monitoring, external corrosion direct assessment, corrosion testing, material selection and material failure analysis.
Wendy is a China native who moved to the US in 1999 and she has lived in Houston for the last 6 years. She enjoys spending time with her husband and two kids exploring Houston.
Contact Wendy at wzheng@trccompanies.com
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