NACE International Podcasts

Brian Carson, CEO of Pittsburgh Paints Co. since February 2025, shares insights regarding his new role and the future of the industry. Topics include opportunities for the company under private ownership; how Carson’s flooring experience helps him understand the paints and coatings market; common challenges and pain points for contractor customers; and more.

AMPP Advocacy Day 2025 is on the horizon, and this year’s event is focused on protecting America’s maritime future through corrosion mitigation and coatings solutions. As the United States modernizes its maritime industrial base and expands naval and commercial shipbuilding capacity, AMPP is leading conversations with policymakers to ensure materials protection remains a national priority. In this roundtable discussion, member leaders Kristin Leonard (Sherwin-Williams) and D. Terry Greenfield (CONSULEX) join AMPP’s Kern Williams and Ben DuBose to explore the most important legislative storylines in 2025 and beyond.

The International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) represents 140,000 workers across the United States and Canada. In this summer 2025 interview with CoatingsPro Magazine, IUPAT’s Andrew Croll and Ken Seal share insights and the latest trends pertaining to safety, training, workforce development, industry influence and advocacy, and more.

Held in Panama City, Panama, this July, this groundbreaking event unites two premier corrosion conferences under one roof. With technical, strategic, and community perspectives, Juan Caballero, Chair of the AMPP Board of Directors, and Greg Muha, Director of Conferences, Exhibits, and Sponsorships, explore what the program will bring to members and industry attendees.

Kirk Lipes, Global Transportation Segment Director at paints and coatings manufacturer Sherwin-Williams, shares his insight on unique needs and opportunities within the market. Topics include challenges and historical limitations; newer technologies and processes to improve performance; feedback from customers and applicators; collaboration opportunities; and more.

Terry Greenfield, principal consultant at CONSULEX and a past AMPP chairman and past NACE International president, shares insight on AMPP’s growing and renewed emphasis on the maritime industry and the critical role of materials protection, particularly in relation to the White House’s new shipbuilding initiative. As AMPP’s accredited representative to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), Terry explores how AMPP and the industry can proactively address risks before they become costly failures.

Dr. Narasi Sridhar, CEO of MC Consult LLC, is the 2025 recipient of AMPP’s prestigious Willis Whitney Technical Achievement Award. In this roundtable interview, Dr. Sridhar is joined by Lucrezia Scoppio, Chair of the Awards Program Committee, and Dr. John Scully, Chair of the Whitney Award Task Force. The discussion surrounds the groundbreaking work he’s done throughout his distinguished career, ranging from pitting corrosion to computational modeling for corrosion prediction. Scoppio and Dr. Scully also discuss the AMPP Awards Program, its objectives, and the importance of recognizing outstanding contributions in the field of corrosion. Insight into what the task force is looking for in candidates is shared, along with ways in which award winners will be honored at the 2025 AMPP Annual Conference + Expo in April.

Dr. Mersedeh Akhoondan is joining the Materials Performance (MP) Magazine team as Technical Editor. In that role, she is replacing Jack Tinnea, who is retiring in April 2025 after a distinguished career. In this position, Akhoondan is responsible for selecting and reviewing MP’s technical articles. She will collaborate with authors, members, and the magazine’s editorial advisory board to provide readers with timely and accurate technical content. Dr. Akhoondan, an active AMPP member and a corrosion specialist for HDR Engineering, brings over 15 years of experience in corrosion control and condition assessment of water and wastewater facilities, bridge infrastructures, solar power plants, and transit systems.  This 1-on-1 conversation with Ben DuBose, AMPP News Editor, explores her impressive career and outlook for the new position with MP (a member magazine of AMPP).

The International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) represents 140,000 workers in the finishing trades across the United States and Canada.  In this March 2025 episode, IUPAT’s Andrew Croll and Ken Seal share insights on the organization’s mission to support and train professionals in the coatings industry; its strategies pertaining to recruiting and retaining workers; emerging technologies and jobsite trends in the industry; and much more.

Gary Gray, a longtime coatings contractor and an executive with Tenor ESOP Partners and ESOP Consulting Group, LLC, says he is seeing considerable momentum toward broad-based employee ownership as a growth tool. With the strategy also representing a tax advantaged exit alternative, Gray explains why he believes the momentum is especially strong in the construction sector.

Russell Raad, president of “one-stop shop” Abrasives Inc., recently joined a sponsored episode of the CoatingsPro Interview Series with insight on his company’s unique specialties and market position. Discussion topics include marketplace trends, changes, and regulatory impacts; unique challenges to the surface preparation of industrial coatings jobs; strategies to incorporate feedback from contractors and end users; an outlook for the future; and available resources from Abrasives Inc. to assist in these processes.

Kaveh Meghdadpour, Director of National Accounts and Business Development and the East Region Manager at Crown Polymers, joins this sponsored episode of the CoatingsPro Interview Series. Discussion topics include industry trends and pain points within floor coatings; successful case studies using Crown solutions; the importance of manufacturers and contractors working together; and strategies to address potential industry concerns in the years ahead, such as workforce development.

Kyle McDonald, Project Manager at Western Specialty Contractors in Delray Beach, Florida, recently joined the CoatingsPro Interview Series with insights pertaining to his job scope and beyond. Discussion topics include standout projects from his time at Western; unique coating factors to consider with concrete substrates and his regional market; industry trends related to technologies, materials, equipment, and workforce development; and much more.

Greg Mulholland, founder and CEO of Citrine Informatics, shares his perspective on how artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly affecting the coatings industry and others linked to materials protection and performance. Discussion topics include development processes influenced by AI; feedback from industrial users; strategies for using AI to adapt to industry trends and new regulations; what the future evolution of AI may look like; and available resources to learn more.

Jennifer Rogers, Senior Director of Education, shares the latest intel regarding AMPP’s newest educational program, Cathodic Protection (CP) Field Techniques. The two-day, immersive course introduces personnel to essential corrosion testing methods and real-world field techniques. In this interview, Rogers explains the background and development process of the course; how it incorporates member collaboration and feedback; and ways in which it overcomes historical limitations while meeting modern needs.

HZO Inc. is a provider of conformal coatings solutions for electronics and other products made for a variety of markets ranging from consumer electronics, medical devices, aerospace, semiconductors, and more. In this sponsored episode, Sean Clancy, Ph.D.—Senior Director of Materials Science at HZO—shares industry insights gained from many years of performing root-cause failure analysis in these products and markets.

Kern Williams, Government Affairs Manager at AMPP, joins this week’s podcast with insight on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) newly issued final rule pertaining to Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI). Topics include background information on the lead pipes replacement plan and how it is tied to corrosion control and materials protection; educational resources available to help members and member companies get involved in the process; a potential timeline for implementation; and other topics on AMPP’s agenda in the weeks following the Nov. 5 election. For more information, visit AMPP’s Government Affairs web page.

U.S. Navy Veteran Matt Flory is a global business director at Sherwin-Williams, where he leads the industrial group’s military coatings segment. With a team comprised largely of Veterans, Flory shares perspective on what they bring to the coatings industry and the role they can play in overcoming workforce development challenges. For the military market, Flory also outlines recent technological innovations such as chemical agent resistant coatings (CARC); anti-microbial solutions; enhanced corrosion primers; and more.

Mike Aughenbaugh, associate target market manager at Swagelok Company, is focused on the development of fluid handling solutions for the oil, gas, chemical, and refining markets. In this sponsored episode, Aughenbaugh explains many of the differences between pitting corrosion and crevice corrosion, as well strategies to remediate corrosion, prevent corrosion, and educate system operators about what to watch for.

Winston Revie, an associate editor for CORROSION journal, leads a summer 2024 roundtable to discuss a newly released two-part paper series based on research from three labs around the world. The seven authors are Negar Moradighadi; Huiru Wang; Luntao Wang; Antoine Seyeux; Alain Pailleret; Philippe Marcus; Srdjan Nesic. Both papers are available at www.corrosionjournal.org. Editor’s note: This roundtable can also be viewed on YouTube with streaming video of all panelists.