Underground Construction - March 2019 - 32

REHABTECHNOLOGY
ty in central Ohio called Marble
Cliff that was having problems
with its sewers and had plans to
grout. I got on a plane, flew to
Virginia, went to the auction and
bought the truck for $10,000. I
didn't even know who manufactured the truck until I got it back
to Columbus.
The manufacturer was CUES,
so I called them and talked to

Attending an airshow in October
2018, Jack was able to fly a
bombing run on a B29 aircraft.

Wally Huber and "Doc," asking
them how to operate the truck
and where I could buy some
grout. They said to call Avanti
and join NASSCO. That same day
I called David Magill at Avanti to
discuss my plans to get into the
grouting business. He also told
me to join NASSCO. I didn't need
to be told three times, so I joined!
Avanti and CUES were extremely helpful in helping me get
my truck up and running. We did
the project for Marble Cliff and it
paid for the truck 100-times over
in just a matter of a few weeks.
That's when I knew I was on to
something. In about nine months
I went from knowing nothing
about trenchless technologies to
becoming a contractor involved
in grouting, CCTV and cleaning.
As I got more involved in
trenchless technologies, I also
got more involved with NASSCO.
I connected with Jim Conklin,

who told me I should attend
NASSCO's annual conference
in Amelia Island, Fla. I'll never
forget walking in that first time.
Talk about family! Everybody in
the room sure knew each other,
but I knew no one. I sat next to
Greg Laszczynski and he was just
as friendly as could be. He was a
NASSCO Board member, so he
showed me the ropes.
I already knew about grouting
and using CCTV for inspections,
because that's all I had been
exposed to. During the conference I took advantage of the vast
knowledge in the room and listened intently to every presentation and soaked in all that I
could. One of those presentations
was by Sal Alberti with American
Pipe and Plastics, Inc. who spoke
about fold and form PVC. After
the conference, I contacted Sal
about his NASSCO presentation
and it resulted in my company
becoming the second licensee of
American Pipe and Plastics.

Getting involved

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MARCH 2019 | UConOnline.com

I knew I needed to be as involved
as possible with the association,
so I volunteered to become chair
of NASSCO's Government Relations Committee. The following
year I was asked to run for the
Board of Directors, completed my
two-year term, then was asked to
become an officer, which eventually lead to serving as president
for two terms.
Seeing the opportunity in CIPP
lining, I learned of a project in
Upper Arlington, Ohio, where
my family was from. The job involved relining an old clay sewer
pipe, with rear easements, that
my grandfather had installed 60
years earlier. We bid the job but
there was a protest by another contractor due to our lack of
experience. I told the City that
if I can't do it right, I'll dig it all
up and re-install a new pipe. The
other lining contractor couldn't

make that promise. We got the
job, and it was an amazing feeling
to know that the host pipe my
grandfather installed had been
renewed with our new pipe-within-a-pipe technology. This was
the beginning of Environmental
Pipeliners and a great run that I
shared with John Olvey.
Back then NASSCO was primarily a contractor's organization. While the focus is still on
contractors today, NASSCO has
grown to include municipalities
and system owners, professional engineers, manufacturers and
suppliers, and others who are
involved in underground infrastructure. What amazed me when
I first joined NASSCO was how
members came together and put
their competitive natures aside.
For example, when the EPA
proposed a ban on acrylamide
grout, Avanti and Insituform
both provided a large amount of
support and funding to block the
initiative. The key point here is
that Insituform is a lining company that supported grouting technologies, an alternative to lining
in some cases. Both companies
were smart enough to know that
when threats come at us, our industry must link arms and stand
up for what's right. It made me
very proud to be part of NASSCO
then, and I look forward to seeing all that this organization has
in store for the future.
Today I spend my time with
CIPP Corp., where I am a principal and co-founder, along with
Bob Peccia and Steve Gearhart,
and Zia Systems which I founded with Gary and Larry Rapp.
With both companies, it's been
fun to develop new technologies
and processes in the CIPP industry to share with others to make
them successful. But my most
important job and life focus has
been, and will always be, my
amazing daughters. *

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Underground Construction - March 2019

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