In this episode of the Pipeliners Podcast, Russel Treat speaks with Greg Alexander of Audubon about his decades-long career in corrosion control and pipeline integrity. Greg shares how he entered the field without a traditional engineering background, the importance of certifications and industry involvement, and why developing the next generation of corrosion professionals is critical to the industry.

Cathodic Protection and Corrosion Control Careers Show Notes, Links, and Insider Terms

• Cathodic Protection a technique used to control the corrosion of a metal surface by making it the cathode of an electrochemical cell
• Corrosion Control practices and technologies used to prevent or mitigate the degradation of materials due to environmental interaction
• Pipeline Integrity programs and processes used to ensure pipelines operate safely and reliably over time
• AMPP (Association for Materials Protection and Performance) the global organization formed from the merger of NACE International and SSPC, providing standards, certifications, and training for corrosion professionals
• NACE International the former National Association of Corrosion Engineers, now part of AMPP, known for corrosion certifications and training
• SGA (Southern Gas Association) an industry association focused on advancing the natural gas industry through training, events, and collaboration
• AGA (American Gas Association) a trade organization representing natural gas utilities and advocating for safe and reliable energy delivery
• American Petroleum Institute (API) a leading industry association that develops standards and supports safety, environmental protection, and sustainability in oil and gas
• American School of Gas Measurement Technology an educational organization providing training and networking opportunities for gas measurement professionals
• Corrosion Coupons small metal samples placed in pipelines or systems to measure corrosion rates over time
• Pipeline Technician Training on-the-job and formal instruction required to develop skills in inspection, monitoring, and maintenance of pipeline systems
• Short Courses (Industry Training) intensive, often week-long training programs focused on specialized technical topics such as corrosion and measurement
• Pipeline Operations the day-to-day activities required to safely transport natural gas and liquids through pipeline systems
• Engineering Judgment the application of experience, knowledge, and practical reasoning to make decisions in engineering contexts
• Business Development in Engineering Services the process of building relationships and identifying opportunities to provide technical services to operators and asset owners

Cathodic Protection and Corrosion Control Careers Full Episode Transcript

Host: Welcome to the Pipeliners Podcast, episode 438, sponsored by the American Petroleum Institute, driving safety, environmental protection, and sustainability across the natural gas and oil industry through world class standards and safety programs.

As we drop this episode, we are in the midst of API’s 2026 Pipeline Control Room and Cybernetics Conference and Expo at the Gaylord Rockies Resort Convention Center in Aurora, Colorado. I hope you’re attending because it’s a valuable opportunity to expand your knowledge, collaborate, and network with more than 700 industry professionals, all working to sustain, transform, and secure essential energy needs.

Hope to see you there, and you can find out more about API, its events, and programs at api.org.

The Pipeliners Podcast, where professionals, bubba geeks, and industry insiders share their knowledge and experience about technology, projects, and pipeline operations.

And now your host, Russel Treat.

Russel Treat: Thanks for listening to the podcast. I appreciate you taking the time, and to show the appreciation, we give away a customized Yeti tumbler to 1 listener every episode. This week, our winner is Justin Ray with Buckeye Partners. Congratulations, Justin.

To learn how you can win this prize, stick around until the end of the episode.

This week, we speak with Greg Alexander of Audubon about cathodic protection.

Hey Greg, welcome to the Pipeliners Podcast.

Greg Alexander: Well thank you, Russel. Appreciate it.

Russel Treat: We’re sitting here at the SGA Natural Gas Association Spring Conference. I’m still struggling with, I just want to say SGA and leave it at that.

Greg Alexander: Yeah, yeah. I know they have expanded their name to get clear about what they do.

Russel Treat: Right. But we’re here talking. So anyways, Greg, if you would, tell me a little bit about yourself, what you do, and kind of how you got there.

Greg Alexander: My background is actually corrosion control and pipeline integrity. I started in this industry right about 40 years ago with a company called Indiana Gas up in Anderson, Indiana, is where I first worked.

I started out as a dispatcher, was very bored with that, went over to the engineering department, kept asking if I could do something for them. One day they said, here, write a work order replacement pipe. And they gave me the manuals and I went through that process, wrote a work order, and shortly after that, there was an opening in engineering.

So they moved me over there, eventually called me a district engineer. Again, I don’t have an engineering degree. Later, they changed that title to project coordinator.

Russel Treat: What kind of degree do you have?

Greg Alexander: I have a business degree, organizational management.

Russel Treat: Have you ever met anybody else that had a business degree that got an engineering job?

Greg Alexander: Not really. Not really.

Russel Treat: Yeah, neither have I. I’m just curious. That seems like a pretty rare career path.

Greg Alexander: Yeah, it was pretty interesting. Again, when I was there one day, some guy walked in I’d never met yet, and I found out he was the corrosion engineer for the company. The company went through a reorganization shortly after that.

I had some interest in that. He’d showed me a few things because he saw that I was interested in what he was doing, so he found an interest in sharing stuff with me.

Russel Treat: Well, most engineers like to talk about what it is they do.

Greg Alexander: Yeah. So anyway, they went through a reorganization and they told him it was time to retire. And they gave me a call and said, how would you like the job?

So that’s how I got into corrosion control. And of course, that was back in the 80s.

Russel Treat: So for all the engineers out there, you’re getting it laid out how to become an engineer without having to go to engineering school.

Greg Alexander: That’s right.

Russel Treat: That is a cool, cool thing.

Greg Alexander: Yeah. Well, just to be interested, you know, and have a desire to learn something new.

Russel Treat: Yeah.

Greg Alexander: And then, of course, I found out about NACE, National Association of Corrosion Engineers, started taking courses through them, getting certifications and stuff. So I carry 7 different certifications from NACE, which is now AMPP.

Russel Treat: Okay, so AMPP is Association for Materials Protection and Performance, I think is the right acronym for that.

Greg Alexander: Yeah, that sounds correct. I wish they wouldn’t have changed their name.

Russel Treat: Well, I have a hard time remembering names. And when you change the ones I already know, it just makes it that much harder.

Greg Alexander: That’s right.

So anyway, I worked at Indiana Gas, which later became Vectren.

Russel Treat: Okay.

Greg Alexander: Which is now CenterPoint. But I left Vectren in 2006, took an opportunity to do consulting. I thought, hey, let’s see what else is out there.

Did consulting for 6 years. It was really great experience because I always thought we did everything right at Vectren. And you know what? We actually did do a lot right. But when you go out and do the same work for other companies throughout the United States, you begin to say, oh, I never thought about doing something that way.

So you learn through that process.

In 2012, I did a lot of pipeline integrity work for Atlanta Gas Light. In 2013, they asked me to come on to work for them. So I moved back into the operations side with AGL Resources and their pipeline integrity group. I was there in that department for several years, and they needed a manager for corrosion control, so I took that role.

Throughout all that process, I’ve been very active with AMPP, or NACE and now AMPP.

Russel Treat: Yeah. So I ask people this a lot. How important has your involvement with AMPP been to your ability to pursue that career and advance in that career?

Greg Alexander: Well, that’s a great question, Russel, because I don’t have an engineering degree.

Russel Treat: Right.

Greg Alexander: So those certifications that I have through NACE and now AMPP is what I’ve really leaned upon.

Russel Treat: Okay.

Greg Alexander: To get me to where I’ve been.

Russel Treat: Yeah. So that gives you your bona fides.

Greg Alexander: That’s right. That’s right. That’s right.

Russel Treat: And I know enough about those certifications. That’s not child’s play. That’s the real deal.

Greg Alexander: They’re very difficult. They’re tough. You know, the week-long courses, and I’m going to say it’s probably a college course that’s crammed into a week.

Russel Treat: Yeah. So rather than going an hour 3 times a week, you go 8 hours a day for a week.

Greg Alexander: Yeah. And you’re talking about, you know, the engineer taking that, it’s a lot better because a lot of math, a lot of chemical engineering, a lot of chemistry and stuff.

Russel Treat: Right.

Greg Alexander: You know, that’s a struggle for me, to be honest, to try to figure that out. So I love it when computers came along because I can put those equations in and plug in the variables. I’m good to go.

Russel Treat: Yeah. Well, I will tell you that this is interesting. The things about engineering that I struggled with the most, those are the things I tended to use the most when I got out in my career.

Because one of the things, and I don’t think people realize this, a lot of us get into engineering because we just have an affinity for math and physics, that sort of thing. But engineering is different than just knowing math and physics. It’s like understanding the math and the physics and how it works and how to apply it.

But what I always found is those things I struggled with the most when I was younger, those were the things that I tended to use the most and be the best at when I’m older. I don’t know why that is, but I really struggled with organic chemistry, and I was a measurement engineer doing full stream analysis. And that’s organic chemistry.

Greg Alexander: Yes. Yeah. Right.

Well, I think, to be honest, one of the benefits of not being an engineer is that I’m more apt to make decisions quicker than an engineer. It seems like paralysis by analysis from an engineering side.

And I have this information and I go to people. And if, Russel, you and I are in the room and I knew what your qualifications were, I would go to you and say, what do you think about this? But I’m going to make that decision, right? And I move on.

Engineers, I’m sorry, I’m not trying to badmouth engineers, but they seem to get stuck.

Russel Treat: Well, there’s this, yeah, it’s really interesting. Part of engineering is you don’t want to be wrong.

Greg Alexander: That’s right.

Russel Treat: But there’s another part of engineering, which is it’s impossible to be completely right.

Greg Alexander: That’s right.

Russel Treat: So, you know, that difference is engineering judgment. And what I hear you saying is, because you didn’t have the formal engineering training, you relied more on engineering judgment.

Greg Alexander: That’s right. I think that’s a good way to say that.

Again, I’m not perfect. I don’t know everything. And I’ve been very active in corrosion control and pipeline integrity through my career. I think it’s very, very important for our assets. You know, it’s safety, it’s compliance, it’s going to extend the life of our assets.

So it’s very important. And unfortunately, I think that we’re needing more people in corrosion. So therefore, believe it or not, just 3 years ago, I started an organization called Southeastern Corrosion Short Course. And the objective there was to bring up new corrosion control engineers.

Russel Treat: Yeah. So I did a podcast recently for the Stockyards Short Course, same kind of story. I think one of the things about corrosion, in terms of really getting corrosion professionals, is the level of technical competence you need in the techs is exceedingly high and very nichey.

It’s a lot of education and skill that doesn’t really translate easy to other things. It’s just very, very specific to pipeline cathodic protection, pipeline corrosion management. And we need people coming up in the business.

And most of them are going to start out in a tech job running around taking data off of coupons. The ones that are interested are going to look for a place to get training. And companies don’t like to send people a long way to get training.

They’ll send them a couple of days to something, but they’re not going to send them off for a week unless they’ve made a decision. We’re investing in this employee in that kind of way.

Greg Alexander: Russel, I think you’re right. But I also have seen through the 40 years here that those companies that make that decision, I don’t care if it’s an operator or a contractor, that make the decision to get those people training, it pays off for them. It pays off for the company and for the technician.

Yes, it does open up doors for that technician to move forward. But if the company is involved and interested in getting trained, qualified individuals to work for them, they’ll also pay them well enough and support them well enough to keep them on.

Russel Treat: Well, I’ll say this too. A lot of these companies are shrewd about this. And they know that if I invest a little bit, like I send you to a couple of days of the short course, that’s local and not a lot of cost, and you take to that and you come back and all of a sudden you’re applying it, well, then they’re going to reinvest more.

If they send you to something, you come back and they’re not seeing any difference, then why would I send you any training?

Again, all I’m saying is managers and companies are pretty shrewd about finding the people that will take the medicine.

Greg Alexander: And I think that’s how I came up through this industry. Again, as a manager in this field for the years, you’re exactly right. I looked for people who were wanting to learn, wanting to invest, and figure it out.

I wasn’t going to send people even to a short course if they didn’t show any interest in trying to learn. Why would the company want to waste their money doing that?

Russel Treat: Yeah, exactly. We’re saying the same thing.

And really, one of the things about this business, just the pipeline business, the natural gas business, the utility business, they’re very technical and they’re very compartmentalized in the technologies typically.

Greg Alexander: That’s right.

Russel Treat: And we need people. You don’t learn this in school. You don’t get a degree. You don’t go to a junior college and get a 2-year technical degree in cathodic protection. You have to get in the business and learn it in the business.

And that’s true with pretty much everything we do.

Greg Alexander: Right.

So here I am, 40 years later, in 2024, Southern Company Gas, great company to work for, by the way, I decided it was time to retire. I’ll be 70 years old here in a couple of months. It’s time to move.

Russel Treat: You’re looking good. You’re looking good.

Greg Alexander: Thank you. But I had an opportunity. Several companies come to me, even before I walked out the door, and wanted to know if I would do a little work for them.

Audubon Companies came to me and they made me an offer. They were doing a company to work for me, and so I took a little business development part-time job with them.

It’s been a great thing. And again, when I started the Southeastern Corrosion Short Course, the objective was to stay involved with the industry so I could see that through.

Russel Treat: So you made the transition from operator to biz dev sales.

Greg Alexander: That’s right. That’s right.

Russel Treat: Man, you are a guy that likes to morph.

Greg Alexander: Well, it’s been an interesting time. I bring possible clients to the company. And again, when I told the guy I report to, I said, look, I’m really past working in the field. I’m really past doing reports. I don’t want anybody reporting to me. I’m here to help you do whatever I can.

So tell me who I need to take to lunch.

Russel Treat: Yeah. So the contacts that you have through the years.

Greg Alexander: Good.

Russel Treat: And the credibility. That’s the other thing about being involved in things like SGA and AGA and AMPP and all that, is you make these relationships.

I’ve been very involved in the American School of Gas Measurement Technology for 30-plus years. And I tell people all the time that if you come and you participate in this committee, when waves of change come through the industry and people get laid off, you will always land in a better situation than you were in before the wave came, I believe.

Because this business is about relationship, and it’s not just who you know, but more importantly, who knows you and how they know you.

Greg Alexander: That’s right.

Russel Treat: And if they know you as somebody who’s easy to work with, fun to hang with, and technically competent, then the world’s your oyster in this business.

Greg Alexander: Yeah. And it’s amazing. Again, this is my second year to present at SGA. I got a call last year about doing it, and they called me this year, and I said, sure, let’s do it.

It was really an exciting time. I enjoyed it. I had a room full of people. Questions were asked. I don’t know all the answers, but I enjoy teaching. I enjoy helping.

Russel Treat: Well, if you’re an engineer, you know that the answer is not nearly as important as the question.

Greg Alexander: That’s right. That’s right.

Russel Treat: Again, it’s one of those things I say. It’s never the question that you didn’t answer correctly. It’s always the question you failed to ask. That’s the one that gets you in trouble.

Greg Alexander: Well, and I always start my presentations off, I actually pull a $20 bill out of my pocket and say the first dumb question gets the 20 bucks. Usually I get a question like, who cut your hair or something.

I always respond, it’s a good question. But the point is, as I often say, there’s no bad question, but there could be a bad answer. So if I don’t know the answer, I’m not going to answer it. I’ll let you know. I’ll seek out the answer or try to find somebody that can help you out.

But yeah, it’s about learning. It’s about teaching.

Russel Treat: Yeah. So listen, I think that’s awesome. I think AMPP is great. I think it’s awesome that you’re starting another local cathodic protection short course.

There really, I don’t know that that is, there’s probably an opportunity to coordinate that on a national level in some way.

Greg Alexander: Well, again, you know, I just had…

Russel Treat: You want to morph into another job? I’m just laying that out.

Greg Alexander: Yeah. Well, I’m just here to help, Greg.

I just wanted something to address the Southeast. Again, there are companies who cannot afford to send their technicians or whatever to AMPP or to AGA or things like that. So we’re reaching people in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, and the Carolinas and stuff there.

Russel Treat: Yeah, basically people can get there within a half day.

Greg Alexander: That’s right. That’s right. And it’s inexpensive. Great time to build a network. So we got some great presenters, people who carry high certifications from AMPP. So it’s really great.

Russel Treat: So for the listeners, we’ll take and link all this up in the podcast so that you can find out all the information about the short course and how to get registered if you’re interested in that.

Greg Alexander: Yeah. Russel, thank you.

Russel Treat: Hey, well, listen, Greg, great to talk to you. I’m frankly a little awestruck by your career.

Greg Alexander: Thank you.

Russel Treat: I think that’s true for a lot of us, though, that after we’ve been doing this for a long time, you look back on your career and it doesn’t really make any sense, the journey you were on.

Greg Alexander: No, no.

Russel Treat: Until you look at where you’re at and you go, well, that helped me do this, and this helped me do the other thing.

Greg Alexander: Well, I didn’t tell you, the first 14 years of my life, I was a restaurant manager.

Russel Treat: Okay. Okay. So now, on a lighter note, for anybody who’s retiring from the gas business that always wanted to open a restaurant, what would be your advice?

Greg Alexander: Don’t do it. Don’t do it. That would be my advice.

Russel Treat: I’ve never had a restaurant, but I’ve known many people that have, and it’s hard.

Greg Alexander: Yeah, for sure. If you think working 50, 60 hours a week in the gas industry is bad, in a restaurant, you’re going to work 70, 80, 6, 7 days a week. It’s tough. And if you own it, you’re the one that gets to work when somebody doesn’t show up.

The company that I worked for then actually wanted to sell that restaurant that I was managing, the last one I was managing, and they were willing to give it to me. I just had to take over the franchise, and it’s yours if you want it.

I said, no, thank you. I get a paycheck from you. If I take this as owner, and my store was profitable, but if I take this as owner, the headache would be phenomenal. I said, no, thank you.

Russel Treat: Oh my gosh, that’s so funny.

Well, we’ll wrap it up right there. For all of you people that are retiring out of the gas industry, don’t open a restaurant.

Greg Alexander: Don’t open a restaurant.

Russel Treat: That’s what we’ll take away.

All right. Thank you.

Greg Alexander: Thanks, Greg. Great. Appreciate you.

Russel Treat: Yes, sir.

Host: I hope you enjoyed this week’s episode of the Pipeliners Podcast, our conversation with Greg.

Just a reminder, you should register to win our customized Pipeliners Podcast Yeti tumbler. Simply visit pipelinepodcastnetwork.com/win and enter yourself in the drawing.

If you have ideas, questions, or topics you’d be interested in, or if you’d like to be a guest, you can let me know at the Contact Us page at pipelinepodcastnetwork.com or reach out to me on LinkedIn.

Thanks for listening. I’ll talk to you next week.