Voices of Experience

FDA & MEDICAL GASES

Ron Ball and Bob Yeoman

GAWDA's three FDA & Medical Gases consultants, J. Robert Yeoman, Ron Ball and Bob Sutter, collectively bring nearly 100 years of industry experience to the table. Yeoman, Ball and Sutter spent several decades apiece with The BOC Group in engineering and regulatory affairs positions. In 2002, Yeoman and Ball left BOC to form B & R Compliance Associates and were named GAWDA consultants; Sutter joined the firm in 2004, specializing in healthcare installations. “What we're most proud of as consultants is that we make available to independent welding and gases distributors the same level of expertise and resources that the major gas companies have to run their compliance programs,” says Yeoman. “By keeping GAWDA members abreast of changes and developing regulatory issues, we help them to stay competitive, which is no easy task for distributors today.”

Services provided to GAWDA: Correspond with FDA on behalf of GAWDA and its members; maintain GAWDA FDA online manual and Web site materials; notify GAWDA of developing FDA regulatory issues and trends; assist GAWDA leadership to develop strategies in responding to regulatory issues and actions; develop and manage GAWDA Medical Gases SOP program and related training and audit services; answer member inquiries related to FDA compliance for medical drug and device gases; represent GAWDA interests at the CGA committees and task forces pertaining to medical gases; conduct GAWDA member site visits to perform Compliance Training & Mock FDA Compliance Audits; represent GAWDA member interests with FDA regulators and the United States Pharmacopeia.

J. Robert Yeoman
What he does in his spare time: Golf and woodworking.
You might be surprised to learn: Yeoman started his career as a registered electrician and licensed heating and air conditioning technician due to a near-nonexistent job market for engineers when he graduated from college in 1972.

Bob Sutter

Ron Ball
What he does in his spare time: Golf.
You might be surprised to learn: Ball left the pharmaceutical industry when his wife finished her Ph.D. and was offered a job in Cleveland. Bob followed and joined BOC there.

Bob Sutter
What he does in his spare time: Ski, kayak, bicycle and golf with his daughters.
You might be surprised to learn: Sutter went to vocational school to study welding. After working with a welding distributor for a year, he went back to college to study engineering.

DOT & HOMELAND SECURITY

Michael Dodd spent 26 years with Union Carbide/Linde (later Praxair, Inc.), working in high pressure plants, cylinder filling plants, air separation plants and the Chicago region office before becoming a compliance director. During that time, he got to know GAWDA's previous DOT consultant, who recommended Dodd as his successor in 2000. Today Dodd is president of MLD Safety Associates and spends more than half the year on the road in his motor home doing “safety safaris,” coordinated on-site visits to GAWDA member companies. “I schedule member visits as closely together as I can so that it lessens my amount of time on the road, which gets pretty hectic,” he says. “I used to love going around in my motor home—now my idea of a vacation is getting out of it!”

Services provided to GAWDA: Maintain GAWDA DOT Compliance Manual, prepare monthly bulletins, provide assistance to members on drivers, trucking, hazmat issues, cylinder filling and cylinder requalification by phone, fax and e-mail.

What he does in his spare time: Golf, fish and other activities in the great outdoors.

You might be surprised to learn: Dodd spent a total of 225 days on the road in 2006, and for the first time ever, this past fall, his wife spent a month of that time on the road with him.

GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS, HUMAN RESOURCES & GENERAL COUNSEL

For Richard P. Schweitzer, Esq., coming to GAWDA as a consultant was a return of sorts. Schweitzer started his career with the Private Truck Council of America, a trade association, before moving to a Washington, D.C., law firm. In 1988, he was approached by GAWDA's former government affairs consultant, who was moving to another association and thought Schweitzer's experience with transportation and distribution regulations would make him a good fit for the position. The association agreed. “GAWDA was my first client as a new, young lawyer at a law firm,” Schweitzer recalls. “I knew how trade associations operated and how they tried to provide member services, so it worked out very well.”

Services provided to GAWDA: Represent the association in Washington, D.C., work with GAWDA Government Affairs and Safety Committees, serve as GAWDA's in-house counsel, answer member questions regarding hiring and retention of employees.

What he does in his spare time: Golf, follow Washington Nationals baseball, read, travel, and spend time with his wife, son and dog.

You might be surprised to learn: Schweitzer is originally from Louisville, Kentucky.

GROUP LIFE INSURANCE

David E. Irving joined Travelers Insurance Company in 1959 as an employee benefits representative, and one of the first accounts he was assigned was the National Welding Supply Association (NWSA), now GAWDA. “I started working with the leaders of NWSA when I was 23 years old, and now many of the Insurance Trustees I work with are those men's sons,” he reflects. “I've gone from being the new guy on the block to the old guy on the block!” Irving continued working with NWSA's account until he retired in 1993, at which time he began working with the association as a consultant. Today, the GAWDA Group Life Insurance Program through Met Life insures over 5,500 employees in 120 companies.

Services provided to GAWDA: Sales and service of the GAWDA Met Life Employee and Dependent Group Life Insurance and Wellness Program, answer plan design and government regulatory questions for participating companies, serve as financial intermediary/consultant for GAWDA Insurance Trustees and plan administrator (Fernley & Fernley) in dealings with Metropolitan Life Insurance Company.

What he does in his spare time: Adventure travel and athletics, including playing in two senior softball leagues.

You might be surprised to learn: Irving has been to every single GAWDA Convention since the 1967 Annual Convention in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

JDF COORDINATING COUNSEL

After graduating from law school, Michael Degan spent seven years working on medical malpractice litigation before joining Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin LLP, where he began to focus on product liability and commercial litigation. Degan became the association's Joint Defense Fund Coordinating Counsel in 2006 after former GAWDA Board of Directors member Bob Caldwell of Linweld put the firm in touch with GAWDA. “I've been involved in asbestos, benzene and other mass tort litigation,” Degan says. “That gave me a background that I think can help me serve GAWDA members in the welding fume litigation.”

Services provided to GAWDA: Monitor and coordinate industry response to welding fume mass tort litigation, assist members and their attorneys involved in litigation, help members find local attorneys to represent them in individual cases and navigate insurance issues to cover the cost of a defense attorney.

What he does in his spare time: Spend time with his two young daughters, golf and follow University of Nebraska football.

You might be surprised to learn: Degan spent ten years playing bass guitar in a rock 'n' roll band that played locally on weekends and occasionally toured Midwestern college towns.

OSHA & EPA

Thomas W. Eynon started out working in operations for Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corporation before moving into safety in 1970. In 1987, he became northeast region safety manager for BOC, then took responsibility for process safety for BOC Gases America. After Eynon retired in 1998, he worked as an independent contractor. He joined B & R Compliance Associates as a senior associate in 2002, at which time he was tapped to provide OSHA and EPA consulting services for GAWDA. “Many GAWDA members are small businesses that may not be able to support a safety professional on site,” he says, “so I'm glad to be able to work with them regarding regulatory and safety questions.”

Services provided to GAWDA: Keep abreast of OSHA and EPA regulations, alert members on proposed and implemented regulatory changes, maintain GAWDA OSHA & EPA Compliance Manuals, provide consulting assistance to members via phone or e-mail, prepare monthly material for Safety Organizer, participate in annual Safety Committee meeting and execute assigned Safety Committee action items.

What he does in his spare time: Boating.

You might be surprised to learn: Eynon lives on the water in North Carolina and keeps a boat in his backyard—a 25-foot Grady White powered by a 250 HP outboard.

SALES & MARKETING

Joe Ellers has been a salesman almost his entire professional life. Ellers' passion for sales led him to drop out of college to sell copy machines, although he later returned to complete his education. He'd been selling successfully for several years when individuals, and later companies, began asking him for pointers. In 1985, he began offering formal sales training, and has worked with 1,100 different organizations since then. But he still “carries a bag” and actively works in sales, just like his trainees. “A lot of people teach selling as an art form,” he says, “but I learned a long time ago that there's a process side to selling, and everybody can learn that and get better. You don't have to be a lot better than the competition—you just have to be a little bit better, and be consistent in your process.”

Services provided to GAWDA: Provide training for inside and outside salespeople and sales managers via regular teleseminars.

What he does in his spare time: Write books, perform military service as a Captain in the South Carolina State Guard, fish and spend time with his daughters.

You might be surprised to learn: Ellers trained for a week in Guadalajara, Mexico, with Arturo Diaz, a bullfighter. At the end of the training, Ellers successfully fought two bulls, and lived to tell the tale.