Page 9 - Tennessee 811 Magazine 2021 Issue 1

now known as Tennessee 811. At these meetings, Donny got familiar with the other stakeholders and would exchange contact information with those folks. He knew these meetings were very valuable and he knew if he could get excavators to call in locate requests then Nashville Gas would have the opportunity to locate their gas lines. Donny said, “First thing, the excavators are less likely to hit your line, when they know where it’s at. Those excavators did not like having to deal with damages. Secondly, you can start building relationships with these guys and help each other out.” I asked Donny how he started to get excavators to come to some of these meetings that he was attending. He told me, “I started communicating with them and that opened up many opportunities to teach them about the importance of calling Tennessee One-Call. Many of these
guys did not know that one-call existed. This opened the doors to start teaching about the dig law and our natural gas safety.”
Donny got Tennessee One-Call’s
Kathy Quartermaine involved to help with training and one program that was successful was the gas safety training they did for the Nashville Fire Department. Donny received help from a coworker named Roger Byrd, who Donny says is exceptional when
it comes to computers and building PowerPoint presentations. “I knew Roger was really sharp with computers. We would go out in the field to take pictures and those pictures would
tell me what I needed to say during
my presentations. We also took short videos and Roger would put together
a presentation for me.” Years later, Donny incorporated Craig Ingram from Tennessee 811 to help with these safety trainings.
Later, Piedmont Natural Gas acquired Nashville Gas and Donny and the
gas employees continued to build relationships with different stakeholders under the new company name. Donny told me that not only did Piedmont offer to do free safety presentations,
but they would buy breakfast or lunch for those attending the class. Again, the networking piece of exchanging contact information was crucial to this process. Donny’s damage prevention program was well received by the corporate folks at Piedmont, which also has facilities
in both North and South Carolina. The Nashville office damage numbers were down, and Piedmont started sending Donny over to the Carolinas so he could share his program with his peers.
Donny kept adding to his resume – not only was he involved with damage prevention with Piedmont, but he
also got involved with several other associations in the industry. Donny started attending Tennessee Gas Association (TGA) events and he took a class that explained the regulations pertaining to public awareness. After taking the class and passing the test
he became a trainer for Piedmont Natural Gas. Subsequently he began
to teach classes at the different TGA events. Donny told me, “I can sit here and beat the drum of how good I was
at my job, but it was the guys I worked with who were sold on the same ideas I was. They were tired of fixing gas lines and putting their health in jeopardy every day. They saw my vision and
what we were trying to accomplish.” Donny mentioned two other names of men that helped him with the damage prevention program for Piedmont. J.P. Hooper and Dwayne Westcott learned the program from Donny and went out to start teaching these classes. “It got to be so many, I could not do them all by myself. Both guys were on board and started covering these classes. I also had my other job duties to perform outside of public awareness and these guys helped tremendously. Piedmont was so supportive, they empowered me to keep moving the program forward.”
Donny also served as the chairman
for the Tennessee Damage Prevention Committee (TNDPC), a regional partner of the Common Ground Alliance, which typically meets quarterly at Tennessee 811’s office to discuss any legislation changes to the dig law, upcoming projects and any helpful information such as reported utility damages. As Donny said, “These meetings provide for networking and helps keep an
open line of communication between everyone in our industry.”
With the damage prevention program Donny started at Piedmont picking
up steam, he was asked to go before the folks at American Gas Association (AGA) at Piedmont’s office in Charlotte. Donny told me that he was intimidated when he went into a room with a long
board table and people piled up looking at him. The folks at AGA started asking Donny about his damage prevention program. “I was nervous when I went in. But when they started asking me about my program, I was relieved. I knew I could talk about damage prevention
all day long. I ended up explaining my whole damage prevention program to them.” He told me, “I would be so eaten up with damage prevention and public awareness that I would be driving into work or driving home and thinking what else can I do to make this better?”
Donny kept giving credit to several folks in the industry. First, he wanted to give thanks to all the fine folks at Nashville Gas and Piedmont Natural Gas for giving him the opportunity to work in the industry. “The biggest deal about the opportunities I had, were
the guys I came up under. Those guys were passionate about one-call and damage prevention. When they saw the passion in me for it, they encouraged me to pursue it. The more invested I got, the more I wanted to do it.” Donny built so many wonderful relationships with people he worked with in his 37 years. “I really loved all the people I worked with. The folks at Tennessee 811, TGA, AGA, and the Common Ground Alliance (CGA). I really enjoyed going on those trips to the CGA conference.”
In conclusion, Donny shared three principles with me that made him successful in his damage prevention career: “First, you must be presented an opportunity. That opportunity
can afford you the chance to network with people. Secondly, you need to have a passion or drive in what you do in your everyday life. Lastly, you must communicate with different stakeholders in the industry.” If you knew him, you know he served the industry by always thinking about building that next relationship with an excavator, emergency responder, or other utilities.
Donny, enjoy your retirement. Your contributions to damage prevention in Tennessee will not soon be forgotten and we appreciate the way you prepared a solid team of folks to pick up where you’re leaving off. Thank you for your service – we’re proud to honor you as a Damage Prevention MVP.
2021, Issue 1 Tennessee811 • 7