Don has been involved with materials and corrosion issues in the refining and chemical process industries as both a supplier and user since 1977.  He started at Nooter Fabricators, a pressure vessel, heat exchanger, and equipment fabricator serving the process industries, followed by The Duriron Company (Durco, now part of Flowserve), a well-known supplier of pumps, valves, and other equipment for the refining and chemical industries.  He went on to Amoco Corporation, first working in their Naperville, IL technical center, serving Amoco’s chemical plants and refineries in the US.  He transferred to Amoco’s huge Texas City refinery & chemical plant site and spent 11 years there under both Amoco and BP ownership.  Finally, he joined Valero Energy in their San Antonio headquarters as their chief metallurgy, corrosion, and welding engineer, serving Valero’s 15 worldwide refineries and 10 ethanol plants.   In that role, Don performed in-plant troubleshooting as well as new major capital projects metallurgy/materials selection. 

Don’s varied roles provided a good mix of fabrication and foundry expertise as a supplier, and various in-plant and corporate assignments as a refinery & chemical plant metallurgist to solve materials and corrosion problems. 

Don has been active in industry consensus standards organizations such as NACE International and the American Petroleum Institute for over 35 years and has served as a working member and in lead roles especially in API, including Chairman of the API Subcommittee on Corrosion and Materials from 2013 to 2015.