Officer Nominees and Candidates
Ricky L. Morgan	Robert J. Potter	Raymond Morasse	Roger W. Engelbart	Roland Valdes

Chair of the Board

Ricky L. Morgan, nominee for chair of the Board, acknowledges the role that a strategic vision has in providing ASNT with a clear direction. He recognizes the impact of a membership that continues to grow at a rate not seen in recent history. He also sees the challenges ASNT faces while working through website development, training alternatives, committee and section involvement alternatives, workforce development, certification development and harmonization, and the implementation of emerging technologies. Morgan believes that for ASNT to continue to be relevant, both domestically and abroad, and to promote the importance of nondestructive testing (NDT) to society, the Board and staff have to work closely with members and associated societies. Morgan believes that with the right leadership, ASNT is well positioned to handle these challenges. Knowing that no one person alone can lead an organization this diverse, he would like to help lead ASNT into the future and would be honored to serve as the chair of the Board.

Morgan has been employed with the Smith-Emery Company in Los Angeles, California, since 1994. With more than

23 years of NDT experience, he has earned a reputation as a leader in the industry.

He holds ASNT NDT Level III certification in magnetic particle testing (MT), liquid penetrant testing (PT) and ultrasonic testing (UT), is an American Welding Society (AWS) Certified Welding Inspector (CWI), and an International Code Council (ICC) Certified High Strength Bolting and Structural Steel Inspector.

A member since 1987, Morgan has been very active in ASNT. Having served as the 2010 – 2011 president, he cites the experience and insight he has gained. Morgan has met, and continues correspondence, with many sister societies. He looks forward to furthering those relationships throughout his term as chair of the Board. He also looks forward to meeting with industry stakeholders to enhance relationships and implementation of NDT processes.

Morgan is also a member of the AWS, ICC, American Institute of Steel Construction and the American Legion.

Together, he believes we will create a safer world.

President

Entering his 13th year of involvement with ASNT at the international level, Robert J. Potter has been nominated for president. Potter first became involved with ASNT in 1976 when he served as secretary of the Oklahoma Section. He credits his involvement with ASNT to his employer, who encouraged participation in professional organizations as a blueprint to professional growth. Potter took this conviction to heart by becoming involved with the American Society for Quality (ASQ), where he earned certifications as a Certified Quality Engineer, Certified Quality Auditor and Certified Mechanical Inspector; and with AWS, where he earned CWI certification. His commitment to both community and professional involvement has continued throughout the years. Potter now serves on the NDT advisory board for Cowley County Community College and for the National Institute for Aviation Research – National Center for Aviation Training. Potter was awarded the ASNT Fellow Award in 2002. He also received the Wichita Council of Engineering Societies’ Engineering Service Award in 2010.

Potter, an ASNT NDT Level III, has served on the ASNT Certification Management Council as chair elect and is past chair of the Eddy Current and Neutron Radiography committees. He is also an active member of the Section Operations Council (SOC), where he has served as Region 9 director since 2000. He serves as an ASNT mentor and sponsor to middle schools in the Wichita, Kansas, area.

In addressing ASNT’s Research Council two years ago, Potter spoke about the history of ASNT. While writing this speech, he realized the need to remain committed to the values of the Society’s founders; the values of promoting the profession and serving the needs of the NDT community. He believes that ASNT should make a conscious effort to seek ways to return value not only to the ASNT members, but also to the entire NDT profession. As the membership grows and the demographics of the Society evolve, it is Potter’s belief that ASNT must also evolve by seeking ways to satisfy future needs in a timely manner.

Vice President

Vice President nominee Raymond Morasse has been in the NDT profession for 40 years. In 1969, after serving in the U.S. Navy,

he began his career as an NDT student at San Diego City College. Morasse has an A.S. in quality and reliability assurance from San Diego City College and a B.S. in manufacturing engineering from National University.

As director of quality, environmental, health and safety for Hyspan Precision Products, Inc. for the past 19 years, Morasse has acquired an extensive background in business management, quality systems and NDT. Morasse is the company’s corporate Level III. He holds certificates in six NDT methods, is an ASNT NDT Level III in UT, an IRRSP certificate holder and is the firm’s radiation safety officer.

A member of ASNT since 1985, Morasse has been active in the San Diego Section for nearly 30 years. He has been on the San Diego Section board of directors for more than 25 years and rotated through the chairs three times. He was named an ASNT Fellow in 2003, and received the ASNT Mentoring Award in 2006. A member of the San Diego City College Technical Advisory Board, he served one term as board chair. He was also on the San Diego Engineering Society Board of Directors, participating as an industry sector judge for the National Science and Engineering Fairs for more than a decade.

At ASNT’s national level, Morasse served on each of the SOC divisions, as chair of both the Student Interest Committee and Section Management Division. Currently, he is chair of the Mentoring Award Committee, Fellow Award Subcommittee and the Young NDT Professional Award Subcommittee. He is a member of the SNT-TC-1A Review Committee and the Technicians Advisory Committee. He has served on the Joint Council, the Operations Committee and was a director at large on the Board of Directors for three years. He served one term as the SOC director to the Board. He is also a member of the Business and Finance and Strategic Planning committees. Morasse has spoken at conferences, regional planning meetings and Section Leaders Conferences, and hopes he has been successful in sharing his 40 years of experience with section leaders.

In addition to reviewing technical articles for Materials Evaluation, Morasse published an article titled “New Enhanced Security Measures for Radioactive Materials,” which was required by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Currently, he is working on the High School Science Teachers Workshop and the Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) committees.

Morasse is a dedicated and passionate member of ASNT. He believes the only way the Society can accomplish great things is through teamwork, mutual understanding and individual respect.

Secretary/Treasurer

Candidate for secretary/treasurer, Roger Engelbart began his 38-year NDT career as a radiographic technician, first for the Emerson Electric Electronics and Space Division, then for McDonnell-Douglas Astronautics (now Boeing). He worked as a Level III technician and a production NDT group leader while earning a B.S. in metallurgical engineering from the Missouri University of Science and Technology

and an M.S. in materials science from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Engelbart is currently an NDE engineer at Boeing Research & Technology, focusing on the development of inspection techniques for aircraft advanced materials and structures. He holds both U.S. and international patents in NDT technology. He is responsible for technology transfer and research programs with Boeing’s international customers. Engelbart has worked in numerous countries, including India, Italy, Saudi Arabia and South Korea, and is a member of the British Institute of Non-destructive Testing. This involvement provides him the opportunity to communicate with overseas users of ASNT certifications and services while learning about the shared interests between ASNT and other NDT societies.

Engelbart has been an ASNT member for 27 years and holds ASNT NDT Level III certifications in five methods. He has served as a board member, committee chair, secretary, vice chair and chair of the St. Louis Section, and was selected as an ASNT Fellow in 1989. In 2005, he worked with a member group to revitalize the Section, serving two additional terms as chair. He currently serves on the Section’s board of directors and is responsible for the President’s Award Program submissions. The Section reached the Gold Award level the last two years.

Nationally, Engelbart completed a three-year term on the Board of Directors in 2010. He has been appointed to the Governance, Audit, Fellow Award, Lester/Mehl Honor and the Mentoring Award committees. He is active in the SOC Membership, Awards and Section Management divisions, and chairs the SOC Technician of the Year Committee. In the Technical and Education Council, he serves on the Aerospace Committee and Aerospace Handbook Subcommittee. Engelbart is currently the Research Council secretary. He has chaired numerous conference technical sessions and serves as program chair for the St. Louis-hosted aerospace topical, including the one scheduled for June 2012.

Engelbart sees open sharing of policies and Society direction as ASNT’s greatest assets. He is currently an e-Mentor and believes that the Society has been very creative in developing programs to reach out to young people to educate them about the field of NDT. He feels ASNT should be an advocate for the integration of newly trained inspectors into the workforce. The keys to success are teamwork, mutual understanding and strong member communication.

Roland Valdes, candidate for secretary/treasurer, has an A.A. in business from Wentworth Military Academy in Lexington, Missouri. Following college, he remained on an available listing for active duty for four years. He holds a B.S. in applied science and technology in mechanical engineering. He received a M.S. in human resources management in September of 2008. He is currently working on his Ph.D.

Valdes spent nearly all of 2007 in the hospital. He was in a coma for two months, followed by eight months of rehabilitation. He was in a motorcycle accident where the frame of his 1500cc motorcycle cracked. The first thing he did when discharged from the hospital was purchase an 1800cc motorcycle (an M109). He has no memory of the accident, nor can he remember the entire week before the accident, which occurred on 6 December 2006. The last thing he does recall is going shopping the day after Thanksgiving. While in a coma, the nurses said Valdes kept trying to get up to go to work to make money.

Valdes has worked for the last 30 years in the petrochemical industry. He is a certified current American Petroleum Institute (API) 653, 510 and 570 inspector, and holds ASNT Central Certification Program (ACCP) Professional Level III certification in MT, UT and PT, and was an AWS CWI.

Valdes is a former member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code Section, Surface Methods (MT, PT, leak testing [LT], ET, magnetic flux leakage testing [MFL], VT and alternating field current measurement) and Volumetric Methods Subgroups (UT, RT and acoustic emission testing [AE]). Valdes also is a former member of the API Inspection Subcommittee Manufacturers and Contractors Task Group on Inspection Codes, which includes inspection and maintenance of equipment within API 510, 570, 650, 653, 575 and 620.

Valdes has six children and four grandchildren.

Nominees for Directors at Large
David Campbell	Jerry Fullin	David A. Mandina

David Campbell is a nominee for director at large. He has been a member of ASNT since 1993 and has served locally as the Pittsburgh Section’s secretary, treasurer, vice chair and chair, and nationally for the Aerospace Committee as vice chair and chair. Campbell has been a session chair or co-chair for numerous technical sessions, and has presented papers at technical and Society conferences.

Campbell has held certifications as a Level II in UT, MT and PT, and was an AWS CWI, a Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Certified Concrete Technician, a Troxler certified nuclear gage technician and a corporate representative to the National Fire Protection Association.

In addition to having chaired and served on a number of local and nonprofit boards, Campbell has served as a member of the board of directors for the Pittsburgh Area Section of the American Concrete Institute and the Non Destructive Testing Management Association.

Campbell earned his undergraduate degree from Carnegie Mellon University in 1979, and completed the E.M.P. program in 1996 through Carnegie Mellon’s Graduate School of Industrial Administration. He has also taken M.B.A. classes at Waynesburg College. Since 1973, Campbell has been with the West Penn Testing Group (West Penn Non-Destructive Testing, Inc.), starting as a construction inspector, and is currently the president and CEO.

Nominee for director at large, Jerry Fulin started his career in NDT in 1983 for the Midwestern Gas Transmission Company. The first years of his career were spent performing NDT on pipelines across the U.S. In 1991, Fulin transferred to Houston, Texas, to work for the Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company in their research lab. In 2006, Fulin went to work for WeldSonix, Inc. as their quality assurance manager and corporate Level III; and, in 2009, went to work in the same capacity for Fugro Consultants, Inc.

Currently, Fulin holds ASNT NDT

Level III certification in four methods. Throughout his career, he has worked on pipelines, vessels, tanks, plants and aircraft parts.

Fulin has always been interested in education. He has instructed courses at East Central Community College in Cambridge, Minnesota, and North Harris Community College in Houston, Texas. He currently meets with the advisory board of two high schools in Houston. When possible, Fulin shares information about NDT careers with high school students and teachers. He also encourages NDT technicians to continue their education. Fulin often volunteers to teach classes to NDT technicians, and encourages technicians to educate themselves throughout their careers.

Fulin has been an active member of ASNT since 1983 and quickly learned that attending local section meetings is beneficial. He has served in all positions of the Greater Houston Section and is an active board member of the Section. He has been a member of the International Chemical and Petroleum Industry Inspection Technology Topical Committee for 10 of the 12 conferences and was chair for three terms. Fulin has served on the host committees for national conferences held in Houston. He became an ASNT Fellow in 2005.

Fulin says he will commit his time and resources to represent the best interests of ASNT members.

With more than 30 years of experience in the petrochemical, oilfield, construction and maritime industries, David A. Mandina, nominee for director at large, has mastered all facets of these industries, including consulting, supervising, training and auditing.

Mandina began his career journey as an RT technician, but his entrepreneurial spirit and dedication pushed him to open Mandina’s Inspection Services, Inc. The company celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2010. While he maintains his ACCP Professional Level III certifications in five methods (RT, UT, MT, PT and VT), he continues to be a forward thinking pioneer in the industry by adopting new technology and applying it to long-standing standards.

Mandina is an active member of ASNT. Professionally, he provides UT phased array and time of flight diffraction inspections, and remains at the forefront of providing these services as the corporate Level III technician for major companies in markets such as China, Dubai, Netherlands and across the U.S.

Mandina has also served as a member of ASNT’s Visual Testing Committee. In addition, he has served as president, vice president, treasurer and secretary of the local New Orleans Section, as well as been a member of its Education Committee since 2004.

Mandina’s love of teaching has also led him to teach at the New Orleans Regional Vo-Tech Institute as an NDT instructor and radiation safety officer. This passion has also led him to develop an online training program. This particular interest was inspired by the need to pass along his training expertise after the devastation of New Orleans and his company headquarters following Hurricane Katrina.

As director at large, Mandina welcomes the opportunity to support the ASNT legacy and continue to help it thrive for the future.

Nominees for Council Representative Directors
Lisa Brasche	Darrell W. Harris	Claudia V. Kropas-Hughes	David Mitchell

Lisa Brasche, nominee from the Research Council for director, has 30 years of experience in NDT research and application. With 25 years at the Center for NDE at Iowa State University (CNDE), she serves as the CNDE associate director, with an emphasis on the transfer of university research results to industry. Brasche received a B.S. in 1984 in materials science and engineering from North Carolina State University and an M.S. in metallurgy from Iowa State University in 1987.

Brasche has served as program manager for the Center for Aviation Systems Reliability since its inception in 1990 and program facilitator for the Engine Titanium Consortium since 1993. She has also served as the program manager for the U.S. Air Force, Quantitative Inspection Technologies for Aging Military Aircraft; and the U.S. Army program, Materials Technology and Development: Nondestructive Evaluation and Process Optimization for Advanced Armor Applications. Current research efforts include engineering studies for the fluorescent penetrant inspection technique, NDT applications to wind energy generation systems, implementation studies associated with ultrasonic techniques and model-assisted probability of detection methodologies.

Brasche has strong ties to the airlines through involvement with the Air Transport Association (ATA) NDT Working Group, SAE Committee K, as chair of the SAE FPI task group and as a member of the Model-assisted Probability of Detection Working Group.

Brasche has been active in ASNT since the early 1990s, presenting numerous papers and writing several articles for Materials Evaluation and The NDT Technician. Brasche has also served on ASNT’s Aerospace Committee, NDT/NDE Reliability Committee, MT/PT Committee and the Research Council. In 2003, she began service as secretary of the Research Council, making her way through the Executive Committee to serve as the 2007 – 2009 council chair. During that tenure, she was a member of the Operations Committee and Joint Council. She has served on numerous award committees and program planning committees, and is a member of ASNT’s Strategic Planning Committee. She is the Research Council’s current Board director.

Brasche led the research team recognized with the 2004 ATA/FAA NDT Better Way Award for their efforts in fluorescent penetrant inspection studies.

Darrell W. Harris, nominee from the Certification Management Council for director, is presently the inspection services manager and corporate Level III for Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, which is headquartered in Anchorage, Alaska. He started his inspection career as a graduate of the Ocean Corporation’s NDT/commercial diver program in 1984 and has worked as an NDT inspector, in addition to many management positions. These have included being a radiation safety officer, Level III technician, quality manager, project manager and general manager in the power, petroleum and structural steel industries. Harris currently holds certification as an ASNT NDT Level III in UT, RT, MT, PT, ET, LT, and VT; ACCP Professional Level III in MT, PT, RT, UT and VT; NACE CIP Level III; API-510, API-653 and API-570; AWS-SCWI; ASQ-CQA; and PMI-PMP.

Harris has been a member of ASNT since 1987. He is a past chair and currently a member of the board of directors of the Alaska Section. He has been active in the Section through facilitating NDT training classes, proctoring certification exams for the IRRSP program and conducting presentations for the local Section meetings. He was named a Fellow of ASNT in the class of 2005. Harris’s international ASNT committee involvement includes serving as a full member of the Certification Management Council, present member and past chair of the Leak Testing Committee, member of the Standards Development Committee, SNT-TC-1A Review Committee and the Electromagnetic committee. Harris is also a member of AWS, NACE International and ASTM International, as well as a senior member of ASQ and the Project Management Institute, for which he served as the Alaska Chapter President in 2007.

Claudia V. Kropas-Hughes, nominee from the Technical and Education Council for director, has been a member of ASNT for more than 15 years and has worked in the NDT business for more than 24 years. She has been employed by the U.S. Air Force as a research leader for NDT since 1989, and currently is a deputy division chief for the Air Force Materiel Command, focusing on transitioning technologies. Her experience is primarily in X-ray, computed tomography and digital techniques.

Kropas-Hughes has been active nationally within ASNT since 2003. She has served as the professional program chair for the ASNT Fall Conference for nine years and is a member of the Penetrating Radiation Methods Committee. She is also active in her local Miami Valley Section, where she served one term as chair and is the current Section secretary. Kropas-Hughes is also active in ASTM International, where she serves as the secretary of E07 Committee and as chair of the Radiology (X and Gamma Methods) Subcommittee, E07.01.

Kropas-Hughes is an ASNT Fellow, recipient of the ASNT Charles N. Sherlock Meritorious Service Award, an ASTM Fellow and ASTM E07 Briggs Award recipient. An electrical engineer by education, she has a Ph.D. from the Air Force Institute of Technology and maintains senior memberships in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the Society of Women Engineers. Kropas-Hughes currently holds one patent in the area of signal processing of NDE data.

Nominee from the Section Operations Council for director, David Mitchell began his NDT career in 1974 when he became a Level II certified in PT and MT at Mitchell Laboratories. This is also when he joined ASNT. By 1977, he was named the quality manager of Mitchell Labs and had become certified in UT and RT. In 1980, Mitchell earned his ASNT NDT Level III certification in UT, PT and MT. From 1980 to 1992, Mitchell taught a variety of classes at the Don Bosco Technical Institute for the Greater Los Angeles Section. In 1987, Mitchell became active in the leadership of the Greater Los Angeles Section, and served as chair in 1992. Also in 1992, Mitchell succeeded Jim Davis as ASNT’s SOC regional director for Region 15. He held this position until 1998. Mitchell was reappointed as Region 15 regional director in 2010.

Mitchell was named an ASNT Fellow in the class of 2002 and received an ASNT Mentoring Award in 2010.

In 1990, Mitchell was named vice president and general manager of Mitchell Labs and became president in 2002. In 2004, he became president of the newly formed Mitchell Metrology. During his career, Mitchell guided Mitchell Laboratories into a leading role among independent labs in automated UT.

Currently, Mitchell is the president of Composite Inspections Solutions, which is involved with providing the composite manufacturing industry with specialized NDT solutions.

   

---

 
Copyright © 2012 by the American Society for Nondestructive Testing, Inc. ASNT is not responsible for the authenticity or accuracy of information herein. Published opinions and statements do not necessarily reflect the opinion of ASNT. Products or services that are advertised or mentioned do not carry the endorsement or recommendation of ASNT.

IRRSP, NDT Handbook, The NDT Technician and www.asnt.org are trademarks of the American Society for Nondestructive Testing, Inc. ACCP, ASNT, Level III Study Guide, Materials Evaluation, Nondestructive Testing Handbook, Research in Nondestructive Evaluation and RNDE are registered trademarks of the American Society for Nondestructive Testing, Inc. ASNT exists to create a safer world by promoting the profession and technologies of nondestructive testing.