April 2015, Vol. 70, No.4
Features
Thornhill Named 2015 Industry MVP
Rod Thornhill, P.E., president of White Rock Consultants, Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX, is the 2015 recipient of the Underground Construction Technology Association (UCTA)/Underground Construction magazine’s Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award.
Robert Carpenter, editor-in chief for Underground Construction, presented the award at a special luncheon Jan. 28 during the annual Underground Construction Technology International Conference & Exhibition in Houston. The MVP award is given annually in recognition of outstanding individual contributions to the underground infrastructure industry.
After spending the first seven years of his career as a young civil engineer with prominent engineering firms, Thornhill established White Rock Consultants in 1994 where he remains principal owner and president. From the company’s Dallas and Fort Worth offices, White Rock Consultants specialize in wastewater collection system analysis, condition assessment, long-term planning and system failure probability providing consulting and project implementation services to sewer utilities. Thornhill has established a widely respected engineering and consulting practice and has developed and implemented several new techniques for effectively managing sewer pipeline condition in perpetuity. The company is also a recognized leader in planning, training, implementation and quality control for Pipeline Assessment and Certification Programs (PACP) for the purpose of monitoring sewer pipeline condition change over time.
In early 2000, through his dedicated involvement with the National Association of Sewer Service Companies (NASSCO), Thornhill directed his focus to pipeline assessment to adapt a long-established core assessment program from the Water Research Center in the UK to become practical for the United States. He spent thousands of personal hours to overhaul and adapt the British program to fit North American standards and needs. Recognized as the principal developer of the Pipeline Assessment & Certification Program (PACP) for NASSCO, Thornhill is credited as the guiding force for establishing an industry standard for gravity pipe inspection. The program has been adopted by more than 1.000 municipalities from coast to coast and is now being adopted throughout Canada and South America.
“Where does one begin to effectively describe the numerous unselfish contributions Rod has made to our industry,” Carpenter asked when introducing Thornhill at the MVP Award Luncheon. “Rod has spent the past 37 years dedicated to sewers, and his knowledge, dedication and commitment cannot be overstated. His stellar career as a respected civil engineer and subsequent accomplishments since establishing his own consulting company far exceeds the criteria we’ve established for the coveted Most Valuable Professional award. Thornhill donated countless hours as the principal developer of NASSCO’s Pipeline Assessment and Certification Program plus, in addition to several other notable achievements have helped advance our industry in so many ways. We are indebted to him on many levels, and it’s an honor for me to recognize Rod as the 2015 UCT MVP award recipient.”
PACP
PACP fulfills an important role by helping train municipal and industrial closed-circuit television (CCTV) technicians identify and document many common procedures for pipe condition assessment and helped established greater continuity in accurately identifying and assessing threat probability for pipeline rehabilitation programs. PACP assessment guidelines now allow all parties involved in maintenance and rehabilitation of municipal sewer systems to anticipate and better plan both short and long-term project needs and effective, cost-efficient rehabilitation strategies.
Since PACP was officially launched in 2002, manufacturers of video inspection equipment have modified software programs to reflect PACP procedures championed by Thornhill. Due in large part to his intuitive vision, generous donation of hundreds of hours of personal time and tireless promotion and instructional support as champion of the program, the NASSCO now has an established set of clear standards that provides greater continuity for evaluating, assessing and grading pipe condition and guidelines and initiating effective repair solutions in a timely manner.
Recently, the city of Fort Worth enlisted Thornhill’s professional consulting services to assist in designing and conducting an assessment program for large diameter pipe. His vast knowledge and experience was instrumental in helping the city develop an effective long-term maintenance and rehabilitation plan, and has also been beneficial in serving as an effective rehabilitation roadmap for maintaining and rehabilitating the city’s aging sewer system more efficiently.
Thornhill has been the keynote speaker at numerous meetings and workshops and a regular presenter at various industry educational events including several UCT Seminar Series. He has written several papers and case histories specific to pipe condition assessment and frequently quoted media source for numerous magazine articles and related communications on various condition assessment topics.
Thornhill was raised on a small farm outside Boaz, AL. His elementary school was so small that the first and second grades were held in the same classroom. He remembers that because he and his twin sister, Becky, “were pretty good at eavesdropping,” they were allowed to skip second grade and move ahead to third, which underscores Thornhill’s over-achieving abilities from a very early age. He was graduated from Sardis High School.
Thornhill struggled in his early years to identify a career calling. His older brother, David, was a rocket scientist for Lockheed Aeronautics and “I figured one rocket scientist in the family was enough,” Thornhill deadpanned.
County Agent To Engineer
At the recommendation of the high school’s guidance counselor, he took a career aptitude skills test to evaluate his strengths in hopes to help him identify potential career options. But results of the evaluation only added further confusion and indecision suggesting Thornhill would be well suited as a country extension agent. He was concerned that since the state of Alabama had only 67 counties, job openings for a county agent position would be hard to come by.
“County agent jobs were few and far between and didn’t open up very often,” Thornhill says. “But aside from the scarce opportunities, I guess I also had a bit of personal bias since the only county agent I knew anything about was the scatter-brained Mr. Kimble from the ‘Green Acres’ television sitcom popular at the time. I didn’t really see myself as a Mr. Kimble, so I decided to attend junior college and enrolled in pre-engineering classes. Shortly after, I became good friends with a few other pre-engineering majors who had decided to shift focus and specialize in civil engineering. That sounded good to me, so I followed them to Auburn University and it turned out to be a pretty good decision.”
It was during his last quarter at Auburn and graduation approaching when a college professor told him about a company located in nearby Jackson, MS, looking to hire some young enthusiastic engineers and asked if he would be interested. “It was either that or the EPA,” Thornhill said. “So I was off to Jackson for an interview. After a spending a few minutes discussing the position and explaining to him why I felt I’d be good for the job, we cut to the chase and talked about compensation. A few weeks later, I received an offer from the company, McCullough Associates, for $13,000 a year. That worked out to be about $250 a week.”
So Thornhill packed all of his material possessions – a 9-inch black and white TV and a coveted lamp he’d made in 4-H as a kid – in his trendy 1973 bright blue Opal Manta and was on the road to Jackson for his first big career break. As he set out on the journey, little did Thornhill know he had taken the first step on the road to 30-plus year rewarding and career in the sewer industry.
Thornhill graduated from Auburn University on a Thursday in April 1976, and arrived on his first sewer project, a manhole rehabilitation job, the following Monday.
“A lot of people ask me how I got into the sewer business,” Thornhill says. “I’m always more than happy to tell them, but instead of saying I work in the sewer, I say I am a civil engineer or that I work for the municipality. But truth be told, I actually like the sewer.”
The good life
A few months into his new job, Thornhill met his future wife and soulmate, Becky, at a party hosted by a good friend. “I had a new job, got to work in exotic places like Mississippi and Alabama and had a new girlfriend,” Thornhill said. “I had it made. After Becky and I were married, we lived in Tupelo, MS, initially, and later in Florida for a couple of years before landing in Houston in 1980, while I was gaining experience with McCullough. Later, after the firm was acquired by another company, we moved to Dallas and my career really started to take off. I felt very fortunate having such a great engineering foundation with McCullough.”
As Thornhill’s experience, knowledge and work responsibilities increased, and recognizing the importance of supporting industry-related advocacy and volunteer opportunities, Thornhill jumped in and became involved as a member of several associations and organizations including the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the Water Environment Federation (WEF) and NASSCO where he would eventually serve as NASSCO president in 2007. He has worked tirelessly on behalf of industry and contributed thousands of precious personal hours.
Thornhill’s career accomplishments were summarized effectively by Irv Gemora, former executive director of NASSCO. “Thanks to Rod’s unwavering commitment, PACP has become the standard within NASSCO that is now the model for how to develop a meaningful and effective program to advance our abilities in the basic area of condition assessment. Under his capable leadership while serving as NASSCO President our organization was able to achieve unprecedented levels in every measurable area.
“I have often stated that Rod is one of the few who can know, but is too modest to say, that he will have left his profession better than he found it from his humble beginnings as a young civil engineer. There’s an old analogy about a ham and egg sandwich that epitomizes the many notable contributions Rod has championed on behalf of the industry throughout his stellar career. The chicken surely contributes to the end product but the pig has committed to it. In that regard, Rod is certainly like the pig, who has invested everything possible for the betterment of us all.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Rod Thornhill, White Rock Consultants, (214) 725-8976, http://whiterockconsultants.com
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