Damage Prevention Council of
Texas Board of Directors
John Sparks – President
A Texas811 employee for 28 years, John Sparks has held several roles within the organization including Contact Center Manager, Damage Prevention Manager, and now Director of Damage Prevention. John serves as President for the Damage Prevention Council of Texas. With help from DPC industry stakeholders and the board of directors, John plans to create a unified statewide damage prevention message and effort while helping to cultivate a safer excavation environment through partnerships, education, and awareness.
Ketha Molina – Vice President
Ketha Molina serves as Senior Damage Prevention Manager for Texas811 and manages the Northwest Region of the State, including five chapters of the Damage Prevention Council of Texas. She also serves as the President of the American Society Professionals Permian Basin Chapter. She has nearly 20 years’ experience as a safety professional that include experience in heavy civil construction, transportation, heavy equipment and oil and gas. She is active lecturer and instructor. Ms. Molina is a native West Texan and shares her passion for the safety of all Texans in her work through the DPC of Texas.
kethamolina@texas811.org
(432) 209-9482
Tina Sanders – Treasurer
Tina Sanders currently services as a Damage Prevention Manager for Texas811. She has been with Texas811 since 2015. Prior to Texas811, Tina served as a Quality Control Coordinator for a Dallas Charter School District for eleven years. She served as chairman on the Kaufman County CERT Board for nine years and the Kaufman Parks and Recreation Board for five years. She is a PEC certified trainer for the Railroad Commission’s Pipeline Damage Prevention Training Program.
Tina is a member of both the Johnson County and Tarrant County LEPCs. She currently serves on the TSTCI Planning Committee, the TGA Employee Development Committee and the Damage Prevention Council of Texas Board. She also serves as Treasurer for several Damage Prevention Chapters across Texas.
tinasanders@texas811.org
(469) 595-1357
Casey Thames – Secretary
Casey Thames of Western Midstream manages Damage Prevention efforts for all West Texas, and New Mexico Assets. He has worked closely with his company expressing the importance of Damage Prevention and has encouraged their continuous support of the DPC efforts. Casey currently serves as Vice President of the Permian Basin Damage Prevention Council, serves on the DPC Advisory Committee, and attends Paso Del Norte and SE New Mexico meetings regularly. His damage prevention career began in 2011 performing contract line locating and monitoring excavations for Southern Union Gas. In 2012 he began working directly for Kinder Morgan, El Paso Natural Gas until June of 2018. At Kinder Morgan, his role was primarily curtailed toward Line Locating, and Damage Prevention activities. He attributes his passion toward Damage Prevention from witnessing and investigating incidents throughout his career that changed the way he sees safety. He has remained active in participating and contributing to industry events, and discussions. He’s very involved in the excavator side as well and aims to incorporate their concerns into the discussions and bring relevant topics to the table in hopes of mutually beneficial resolutions.
casey.thames@westernmidstream.com
(806) 336-4557
Jeramy Comyford – Industry Board Member
Utilities specialist with more than 30 years of experience in building and cultivating client relationships. Proficient manager of large employee bases and developing leaders within the company infrastructure. As Regional Director for USIC, Jeramy has facilitated company operations in Texas and New Mexico. He has managed leadership development of more than 1200 employees and has cultivated and maintained strong relationships with the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (NMPRC). As an experienced District Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the utilities industry. Skilled in Negotiation, Operations Management, People Management, and Team Building. Jeramy is a strong sales professional who graduated from San Juan College.
jeramycomyford@usicllc.com
(817) 300-8675
Mike Culp – Industry Board Member
Mike Culp started his career in December 1978 for Pioneer Natural Gas Company in Hereford, TX. He was working in the C&M (construction and maintenance) department. He worked many years gaining knowledge and insight into the natural gas industry as the Company transitioned to Energas and, eventually, Atmos Energy. Mike entered supervision in July of 1997 in Amarillo, establishing lasting relationships throughout the community while continuing to promote safety and partnerships. In July 2006, Mike became an Operations Manager overseeing all departments and employees in and around Amarillo until his role changed to Manager of Compliance for the West Texas Division in September 2015.
Mike manages and supervises all compliance-related requirements through federal and state regulations and policies, and procedures within Atmos Energy. Mike continues to go above and beyond in his role in promoting damage prevention, excavation safety, and culture within Atmos Energy. He continues to be a sought-after leader and mentor with 44-plus years of experience and service to the gas industry at Atmos Energy.
mike.culp@atmosenergy.com
(806) 220-6849
John Denis – Industry Board Member
John Denis has enjoyed an exciting 26-year career in the energy market, spanning from upstream gathering to downstream petrochemical plants, along with all midstream and distribution markets. John is currently the Director of Natural Gas Utilities for SAM Companies with a national reach into the nation’s Damage Prevention networks working to provide solutions, awareness, and stakeholder guidance within the Natural Gas Utilities market. John is actively involved in several industry organizations, currently sits on the San Antonio Pipeliners Board of Directors, and is the Chairman of the Midstream America Scholarship Fund of Texas. His passion for safety truly started during his time in the United States Army, working with the Army Corp of Engineers as a 62E. (Heavy Equipment Operator)
John has been married to his beautiful wife Kristi for 30 years this July and has two amazing children Molly and David, Grandson Luca, and son-in-law Jeffrey. He loves spending time outdoors, taking road trips with his wife, and fly fishing on their adventures.
John.Denis@sam.biz
(737) 977.2787
Holly Eshliman – Industry Board Member
Holly is a Branch Manager for United Rentals Trench Safety in New Braunfels TX. She has worked for United Rentals for 5 years and spent her entire tenure with them in the Trench Division. She teaches Trenching and Excavation classes as well as classes on Confined Space Entry. She has served on the Central Texas Chapter Board for DPC for 2 years as their Scribe. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Anthropology with a minor in Geology from Texas State University. Holly is an avid San Antonio Spurs fan and enjoys going to concerts.
heshliman@ur.com
(832) 459-4000
David Ferguson – Board Member
David Ferguson currently serves as a Damage Prevention Manager for Texas811. Prior to joining Texas811 in 2017, David served as Pipeline Damage Prevention Program Manager at the Railroad Commission of Texas.
David joined the Railroad Commission in 2006 and held positions in the areas of Gas Services and Pipeline Mapping before joining the Pipeline Damage Prevention team in 2009. He quickly became the program’s subject matter expert and Pipeline Damage Prevention Program Manager in 2015. David represented the Commission before damage prevention and pipeline safety organizations, the One-Call Board of Texas, other state agencies, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), and other public forums. During his tenure at the Commission, David met with pipeline operators, contractors, excavators and municipalities and collaborated with the Commission’s Office of General Counsel on enforcement cases and rulemaking.
davidferguson@texas811.org
(214) 674-5959
Josh Flud – Industry Board Member
Josh started his career with the City of Lubbock in August 2005. Since that time he has worked with a number of different departments assisting in not only construction projects but assisting departments with specialty projects or large unusual problems. He is currently serving as the Construction Inspector Supervisor for the Engineering Department. His department is made of Inspectors, Surveyors, Right-of-Way Inspectors, CIP and a Right-of-Way Coordinator.
He has worked to promote the Damage Prevention Council of Texas, Northwest Region for the past five years to implement excavation safety through education. In 2008 the City of Lubbock locators were moved to his department; at that point he began stringent education and standardized procedures.
One of his largest and most recent accomplishments was rewriting the City of Lubbock Right-of-Way ordinance which was adopted by City Council in December of 2021. The new ordinance incorporated state laws and industry best practices to promote safer excavation.
He holds the following licenses and certifications, Class C Water license, APWA Certified Public Infrastructure Inspector, ACI Concrete Field Testing Technician Grade 1, Radiation Safety Officer, Nuclear Gauge Safety Certification, Level 1B Roadway Inspector and TXDOT Work Zone Traffic Control certified.
jflud@mail.ci.lubbock.tx.us
(806) 548-4152
Brandon Jennings – Board Member
Brandon currently serves as the General Manager for T&M Line and has been with T&M for 7.5 Years.
Brandon has worked in the Construction industry since 2016 where he has been a pipe fitter and welder, heavy equipment operator, roustabout supervisor, line locator, and GIS specialist. I have learned and used many aspects of the industry to grow and spread the knowledge of my experiences throughout my career. He manages 25 Line Locators and 6-7 roustabout crews daily in the Permian Basin; T&M provides services to many asset owners. He strives to provide the best leadership and knowledge to all my employees and colleagues.
In his life, he has accomplished many great things. First and foremost, he is a father and husband, but he also has completed the Fire Academy and served as a paid and volunteer fireman. He and his son are very involved in Team Roping where he has qualified for the World Series Finale team roping in Las Vegas multiple times. coaching his son in all of his activities is a huge accomplishment, and he enjoys being involved in the community. Brandon has been married to his wife, Kaylie, for over 10 years.
brandon@tmlinelocators.com
(720) 552-4101
Scott Sasajima – Board Member
Scott Sasajima has over 21 years of one call experience with Texas811. Previous positions held include front-line, management, and human resources roles that support the organization in advancing its mission of damage prevention and public safety. As the Director of Operations, he works with and the leads the teams responsible for the damage prevention center (811 center), facilities, quality assurance, and training. Scott is also a liaison to other one call states served by Texas811 and is actively involved in industry groups that work to advance damage prevention for all stakeholders, such as CAMO (Coastal and Marine Operators), the CGA (Common Ground Alliance), and the FNCA (Facility Notification Centers of Association).
scottsasajima@texas811.org
(972) 280-8786
Jesse Torres – Board Member
Serving the Southeast Texas area and the Valley as a Texas811 Damage Prevention Manager, Jesse has specialized knowledge of Excavation and Trenching safety, Pipeline Safety , Incident Investigation, and Root Cause Analysis.
Jesse has over 19 years serving the damage prevention industry, and has a working knowledge of natural gas distribution and electric systems and safety. Being bi-lingual allows Jesse to reach audiences in the Hispanic community. He has a passion for safety and damage prevention.
jessetorres@texas811.org
(361) 799-0959
