A Year in the Life as NACE president

My connections with NACE International go back over 25 years and I have had the privilege of spending the past year as president of the association.

NACE International is a world leader in corrosion prevention and mitigation with over 25,000 members in more than 100 different countries.

Interestingly, it was founded by 11 pipeline engineers but has grown substantially since then. It encompasses the complete Oil and Gas industry - infrastructure, water/wastewater, military systems, marine, power generation and distribution. These are the primary areas, but it is also involved in many others as well.

Its purpose is to provide education and communicate information to protect people, assets and the environment from the effects of corrosion. It is unique in that it is the only association that addresses all facets of the corrosion and corrosion mitigation industry at all different levels, from the scientist and engineering standpoint to the technician in the field doing the assessment.

Prior to becoming president, I was chairman of the European region before being elected as vice president in 2009. I took up the role as president in March 2010 after one of the toughest interview processes I have ever experienced.

I had to present my vision for the association and what changes I would bring in to enhance its processes and operations. I am proud to look back at the end of my role as president and say I have achieved exactly what I set out to achieve.

In my role as president I had to work with the executive director and board of directors to ensure that the staff had the vision and goals needed to successfully address current corrosion challenges and provide members with the tools and information needed to succeed in their professions.

NACE has over 100 dedicated staff based in the Houston, Texas, headquarters and several others around the world who work hard to ensure the success of the association.

Being a volunteer for NACE International is about giving back and driving industry growth. My career has been closely associated with NACE International standards and training and I have thoroughly enjoyed my time working with other volunteers in developing needed industry standards and guidance documents that are critical to our profession.

My links with NACE International started in the mid 1980s and after meeting many in the profession and experiencing Corrosion, NACE International’s annual conference, I wanted to be part of the activities and to make a difference to the industry.

I have a lot of fond memories to look back on throughout the year but maybe my biggest achievement was increasing the amount of student sections across the globe.

The industry is facing many challenges but possibly the biggest is an aging workforce. One of my priorities was to help support and develop the next generation of corrosion professionals and I am pleased that we increased the sections and established more links with educational institutions around the world. The enthusiasm from the student population is incredible and is very encouraging for the future of this sector.

Another challenge is changing the business culture from a ‘find it and fix it’ concept to considering the entire life of the assets, the impact of corrosion, and how to address it. We worked closely with the federal government and industry in the United States to address corrosion more fully and it is a model that was replicated around the world to raise awareness of this issue.

It wasn’t just the United States where we had a big impact. At the start of my presidency, 31 per cent of members were based outside of the United States. This figure has since jumped to 38 per cent and we have formed new networks in places such as Azerbaijan, India and Japan, establishing a vital network of connections between the four corners of the globe.

These relationships are something I will continue in my work with Exova as director of corrosion. Exova is one of the leading names in Oil and Gas industry testing and we have over 110 facilities based in 24 different countries, so these networks will prove vital.

The industry continues to be an exciting place to work but there are plenty of challenges ahead.

Even though corrosion professionals have made great strides in developing cutting-edge technologies, the latest corrosion control strategies still require widespread changes in industry management and government policies, as well as additional advances in science and technology. Many times, companies implement short-term strategies to save money, but this is actually a more expensive solution in the long run.

There is however a growing need to address our entire critical infrastructure: water and wastewater pipelines, bridges, storage tanks, marine vessels and structures, power generation and distribution systems, and key historical structures.

NACE International has started to work closely with the United States Congress and other governments to develop legislation that will address this issue.

To summarise, I think a lot of people sometimes forget how important this industry is with frequent estimations that the world is losing between 3.5 per cent and 5 per cent of its GDP because of corrosion (about $3 trillion) annually. Approximately 30 per cent of that can be saved today using best corrosion control practices.

The past year has been a great privilege for me and although my presidency has come to an end, I will continue to work with NACE to educate the industry, public and governments around the globe about the importance of corrosion and how the challenges the industry faces can be addressed and overcome.  

Chris Fowler, Director of Corrosion at Exova