Awards

Recognizing Pioneers in Damage Prevention

The CGA established an awards program to celebrate the successes of our members as well as those in the larger damage prevention community. Since that time, the CGA has recognized many individuals who have demonstrated great dedication to damage prevention.

At the 2021 conference, CGA announced the first-ever Groundbreaker Award recipients. These Groundbreakers are individuals and organizations that have proven themselves as pioneers in damage prevention and are contributing groundbreaking ideas and achievements for the betterment of the industry.

Congratulations to Groundbreakers for 2021: John Cachat, 4iQ Solutions, LLC, Coastal and Marine Operators (CAMO), and UtiliSource.

Welcome to the CGA Hall of Fame Dora Parks, Miss Utility and Eric Swartley, UGI Utilities.

Groundbreaker Awards

John Cachat, 4IQ Solutions, LLC - John Cachat has led the development of one call center technologies and applications for more than two decades. In 1995, John created the first ticket management system that allowed member utilities to receive their tickets on their computer, changing the way that member utilities managed their ticket request process. Since then, John has contributed to numerous one call center applications and innovations, including the first ticket creation system using polygons for dig site notifications, real time tickets, the training platform Coursettra, the industry-leading Exactix platform, and the first cloud-based one call system. Our modern one call center applications are here in large part thanks to John’s development efforts.
Coastal And Marine Operators (CAMO) - CAMO has introduced the marine industry to a new level of pipeline awareness and safety. The organization partnered with major U.S. ports and marine pipeline stakeholders to develop multiple marine pipeline initiatives that seek to mitigate underwater pipeline damages. These initiatives, including the Port of South Louisiana Pipeline Safety Initiative and the Port Fourchon Pipeline Safety Program, have helped to prevent catastrophic loss of life and major economic and environmental impacts in some of the largest marine communities in the country.
UtiliSource - UtiliSource is paving the way for future risk mitigation of underground utilities through its implementation of GIS mapping software. In an innovative pilot program in the city of Warrenton, Mo., UtiliSource is locating the city’s complete underground infrastructure while it installs hundreds of thousands of feet of fiber optic cable. By developing accurate GIS maps of the entire underground infrastructure of the city and streamlining the data collection process among all stakeholders, UtiliSource predicts that they will improve project planning efficiency, reduce the time spent potholing by half, mitigate risk to underground utilities and improve safety outcomes for field workers. Read more about UtiliSource’s pilot program in this Next Practices living case study.

Hall of Fame

The Hall of Fame is an ongoing roster of damage prevention champions. The award honors CGA members that have served in the organization over a long period of time and whose impact has left its mark on the organization in a positive and memorable way.

Current Year's Recipient:

Dora Parks & Eric Swartley

Award Recipients

Claudette Campbell (2005)
Stacey Gerard (2005)
Vic Weston (2006)
William Kiger (2007)
Allen Gray (2007)
Bill Boswell (2008)
Paul Preketes (2008)
Will Carey (2009)
Eben Wyman (2010)
Kathie Fournier (2011)
Brad Barringer (2011)
Don Heyer (2012)
Patti Lama (2013)
Rich Felder (2013)
Mark Palma (2014)
Diane McCarthy (2014)
Linda Sims (2015)
Jim Barron (2015)
Bob Kipp (2016)
Jeff Wiese (2017)
Tom Hoff (2018)
Gweneyette Broussard (2019)
Dora Parks & Eric Swartley (2021)

Jim Barron Award

Jim Barron of Ronkin Construction played a key role in the Common Ground Study and went on to serve as the first president of the CGA. He has and continues to show true dedication to the CGA and to several other damage prevention organizations and projects. The Barron award is given to an individual(s) or organization(s) that may or may not be a member of the CGA but has shown true dedication to efforts that enhance underground damage prevention. An example may be an individual that serves on a one-call board, a member of Congress or government official, or any other person or organization outside of the CGA that has made a positive impact on the damage prevention community.

Award Recipients

Chris John (2005)
Mike Shallow (2006)
Scott Landes (2007)
Rick Pevarski (2008)
JD Maniscalco (2009)
Corey Willson (2010)
Massoud Tahamtani (2011)
Marco’s Pizza (2012)
Ron Rosencrans (2012)
Donnie Mingus (2013)
Mike Sullivan (2014)
Walt Pegram (2015)
Jemmie Wang and Mark Stowe (2016)
Dj Stukas and Joe Karpenske (2017)
Bob Terjesen (2018)
Kevin Hopper (2019)

Ron Olitsky Award

This award is presented in honor of Ron Olitsky of Underground Service Alert, who served on the CGA Board since the organization’s establishment and during the development of the Common Ground Study of One Call System and Damage Prevention Best Practices in 1999. Ron’s dedication to the CGA and to damage prevention was a true priority until his untimely passing in 2005.

The award will be granted to the CGA member whose dedication and service to the CGA went above and beyond the call of duty during a given year, and he/she might be considered the “most valuable player.”

Award Recipients

Brian Tooley (2005)
811 Team (2006): Dan Meiners, Tom Shimon, Kevin Chmura, Gina Johnson, Patti Lama and Linda Sims
Ron Peterson (2007)
Mike Catt (2008)
Gweneyette Broussard (2009)
Steve Blaney (2010)
Gloria Grev (2011)
Dan Maschka (2012)
Louis Panzer (2013)
Collin Miyadi (2014)
Ryan White (2014)
Annmarie Robertson (2015)
Thomas Young and Michael Muilenburg (2016)
Chris Thome (2017)
Ann Rushing (2018)
Deanna Centurion (2019)

President's Award

Since 2009, CGA's president has selected a company to receive the annual "President's Award." The recipients have gone above and beyond to demonstrate their dedication to damage pevention during a given year.