Bill Byrd

Conference Chair

W. R. (Bill) Byrd, PE, is founder and president of RCP Inc., a professional engineering firm serving the energy pipeline industry in the areas of integrity and risk management, safety management systems, PHMSA compliance, litigation, and training. He serves as the consultant to the API Pipeline Performance Excellence Team, Data Mining Team, and Safety Management Systems implementation teams.  He has served on the board of the Pipeline Research Council, International and the oversight committee for its Technology Development Center, and chaired the ASME Pipeline Systems Division and the ASME Safety Engineering and Risk Analysis Division (SERAD). He is a Summa Cum Laud graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he received bachelors and masters degrees in mechanical engineering.

 

Chris Johnson

Conference Vice Chair

Chris Johnson is the Director of Facility and Integrity Engineering for ATCO’s Natural Gas Transmission and Distribution division. As a member of the leadership team, he is responsible for overseeing the division’s Facility and Pipeline Integrity Management Programs.  This scope includes pipeline integrity inspections, projects and assessments as well as facility integrity management including underground storage and pressure equipment. Mr. Johnson joined ATCO in 2003 as an Engineer and has held increasingly responsible positions in the following years. He has more than 15 years of engineering experience in the areas of pipeline design, project management and integrity management in the transmission and distribution natural gas pipeline industry.

Chris was born Edmonton and he holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Alberta. He is a member of APEGA and has been active with both CEPA and PRCI where he has represented ATCO on the CEPA Pipeline Integrity Community of Practice and as champion for the CEPA Integrity First initiative, as well as participating in Technical Committees for PRCI (Pipeline Research Council International)

Mr. Johnson resides in Sherwood Park, is married to Kim Johnson and has a son and a daughter. In his spare time Chris enjoys snowboarding, playing hockey, golfing and spending time with his family.