Sam Hall joined the Common Ground Alliance as Vice President of the Damage Prevention Institute in June of 2022, bringing more than two decades of industry experience and a strong regulatory background. With the engagement of industry leaders and CGA members, Sam leads the development of a comprehensive program of stakeholder accreditation, damage prevention metrics, and a peer review process to drive systemic efficiencies in the damage prevention system.

Brad joined Irth first as a board member in 2020 and now serves as CEO. Prior to his role as CEO at Irth, Brad was Global Managing Director of IBM’s Energy, Environment and Utility Industry. Brad’s formal education includes a BA in Political Science and an MBA in Finance. Brad has testified in front of the US Congress on Energy issues and has been featured in articles in Forbes, Business Week and numerous industry and business periodicals. Brad is also considered a thought-leader on Energy and Utility issues and is a frequent speaker and panelist at industry events. Before joining IBM, Brad served as a Captain in the United States Air Force where he held positions in Strategy and Planning and as a Flight Crew member on the B-52.

Since joining Irth in 1996, Rod Ball has been instrumental in defining best practices in development and has been a key leader in the design, development and testing of our solutions. Rod and his team are responsible for the creation of all Irth products and works closely with Irth staff and customers to ensure the products deliver required functionality. Rod holds several industry certifications and has a B.S. degree in Software Engineering from The Ohio State University.

Brian Jones has over 35 years of experience in the energy and utilities industry. He started his career holding leadership positions for an investor-owned electric and gas utility for 11 years. Brian has helped build three software and services companies serving in a CRO role at two of those companies. Brian also served nearly a decade with global software giant SAP, helping to build the SAP Utilities practice as a leading provider of industry-focused solutions. Before joining Irth, Brian was the Energy and Utilities practice head for Cognizant Technology Services leading a team of over 7,000 professionals. Brian has a B.S. in Business from Wright State University.

Jason Adams has had an extensive career in Damage Prevention. With over 25 years of experience working with some of the largest stakeholders in the industry, Jason has become an expert in building and creating solutions that promote safety. Jason started his career in the Damage Prevention space by joining Irth in 1997. During his time with Irth, he worked directly with multiple clients in his role as Director of Sales. As he continued his career with Irth, he focused on working with One Call Notification centers in building some of the most advanced tools for increasing safety and reducing risk. In 2010, he was promoted from President to Chief Executive Officer. In 2012, Jason exited the company after a successful acquisition. Jason formed 4iQ Solutions in 2013 and helped create a company whose focus was leveraging data to help reduce risk and promote better education. 4iQ Solutions quickly became one of the largest providers of One Call Notification software and training and certification for the Damage Prevention Industry. With the recent acquisition of 4iQ Solutions, Jason returns to his roots and looks forward to building tools that will help in the journey of making the world a little safer.

Matt Fragale joined Irth in 2016. He brings over 11 years of experience in Customer Service, Sales and Management. Since joining Irth, Matt has held multiple sales roles including Sales Development, Customer Success, Account Executive and currently Vice President of Sales. Matt conveys exceptional leadership and industry knowledge along with a proven track record achieved by embracing the core values of integrity, innovation, and growth. Prior to joining Irth, Matt served as General Manager for Verizon Wireless, where he led Operations, Customer Service and Sales. Matt earned a B.A. degree from the University of Findlay, with a double major in Liberal Arts and Business Management.

Lindsay brings 15+ years of SaaS expertise to Irth; from integration knowledge to cutting-edge resource adoption, blending tech skills with client focus. Her decade-long commitment to Customer Success programs fuels organizational growth, guiding her team through analytics and efficient, customer-centric processes. As the driving force of CS at Irth, Lindsay’s innovative client engagement model propels businesses toward triumph through the guidance of CS. With a BS from The Ohio State University in Sociology (Criminology) and a minor in Fine Arts, she offers a holistic leadership perspective; eager to push the boundaries of industry standards and best practices. Lindsay’s journey embodies pioneering Customer Success, where each step strives towards excellence and improvement of the customer experience.

Shane Mattix has nearly two decades of experience in helping clients solve critical business challenges through the strategic use of technology. Working in Business Process Management using a Lean Six discipline, Shane focuses on automating processes and helping clients generate significant investment returns. Shane has worked alongside multiple teams and aided in the growth of two different companies before coming to Irth. His vast business-process experience allows him to understand complex problems and find realistic solutions to reduce time, eliminate rework, and increase productivity. His added knowledge of the Irth platform makes him a valuable member of our Irth team.

Justin Oliveira is CEO of Boston Geospatial – a geospatial intelligence company that helps organizations identify and measure their exposure to natural hazards using satellite radar as well as other advanced geospatial technologies. Previously he was Co-Founder/CEO of the satellite data relay company Hedron (formerly Analytical Space), spent close to a decade at NASA as a technologist and engineer, and worked at the White House on civilian space and technology policy. Justin holds a BS and MS in Aerospace Engineering from Florida Institute of Technology and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Kevin Hopper is the Executive Director of UDig NY, Inc., an organization that protects New York State’s growing underground infrastructure from unnecessary excavation damage. The organization is committed to driving down the number of preventable underground utility strikes, through communication, advancement of technology and education, thus ensuring laborer and community safety across the state.

Hopper joined the not-for-profit organization in 2001 and became Executive Director in 2015. Under his leadership, the organization has developed a clear plan and vision to propel UDig NY into the future by leveraging technologies to build a one-call system that offers a competitive suite of products allowing the organization to become a better resource to its members and customers, as well as enhancing customer service and interaction. His career has focused on business process engineering and optimization, with a highlight on implementing technology that intelligently furthers the role of the One-Call Center as a partner to all stakeholders involved in damage prevention.

Hopper serves as the Treasurer on the Common Ground Alliance Board of Directors, sits on the Berkshire Bank CNY Advisory Council and Cazenovia Golf Club board, and coaches a Cazenovia Little League team.

Locally in Upstate New York, Hopper lives in Cazenovia with his wife of 18 years, and their two children. Hopper has a Bachelor of Science degree in Mass Communications from the State University of New York College at Oneonta.

Johannes Schmude is a Senior Research Scientist and Manager at IBM’s T.J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, NY. His work focusses on applications of artificial intelligence in a geo-spatiotemporal context at massive scale. He holds a Master of Advanced Study in Applied Mathematics from the University of Cambridge (UK) as well as a PhD in Physics from Swansea University (UK). Prior to joining IBM, Johannes was a postdoctoral researcher at the Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe, University of Tokyo (Japan), the RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science (Japan) and the University of Oviedo (Spain).

Jennifer Ogle serves as the Damage Prevention/One Call Supervisor at Energy Transfer, a prominent midstream energy company with an extensive network of pipelines spanning 41 states, totaling over 125,000 miles. In this role, she is responsible for the day-to-day management of Energy Transfer’s One Call operations within Irth’s Utilisphere program. Her duties also include the thorough investigation, root cause analysis and reporting of any facility damages or near misses, as well as the continuous oversight of all damage prevention processes. Jennifer has 16 years of experience in the energy sector, underpinned by a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies from the Jack J. Valenti School of Communication at the University of Houston. She actively engages with the damage prevention community and presently serves as an alternate board member for Pennsylvania 811. Before joining Energy Transfer, Jennifer contributed as a Public Awareness Consultant at Longhorn Pipeline. In this capacity, she contributed to the development of the company’s crisis communication protocol, school education initiatives and outreach efforts related to equipment rentals. Jennifer’s industry expertise and dedication to safety play a significant role in maintaining the security and integrity of our vital energy infrastructure.

Allen has been with Ameren for 16 years. Allen joined the company in 2007 as a Damage Prevention Coordinator. Since 2011, he has been working as a Damage Prevention Supervisor. His responsibilities range from coordinating activities with the one-call system (JULIE), overseeing the electronic locate ticket management system (Utilisphere), supervising the ticket screening process, oversite of Ameren’s contract locators and auditors, interactions with excavator groups and handling various legal and regulatory activities. Prior to working at Ameren, Allen worked for private consulting engineering and land surveying firms. Allen has a BS in Civil Engineering from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and is licensed as a Professional Engineer (PE) and a Professional Land Surveyor (PLS).

Kyle Murphy has over 15 years of experience in utilities, damage prevention, and safety. After graduating from the University of Cincinnati with a Bachelor’s of Science in Computer Engineering, Kyle began his professional career in San Diego, CA working for several telecom companies. Kyle’s group was responsible for extracting and analyzing petabyte-scale network performance data at Sprint, Cricket, and Ericsson. In 2011, Kyle founded DigTix – a safety and damage prevention SaaS offering for utility companies. In 2019, Kyle founded DigSights, an AI platform for predicting excavation incidents. In 2021, DigTix and DigSights was acquired by 4iQ Solutions, which was then acquired by Irth in 2022.