Underground Construction - March 2020 - 32

NASSCO Standard Bearer: Lynn Osborn
me he was supposed to go to St. Louis to
see a new process called Insituform, but his
son was ill and he couldn't go. He asked me
if I could take his place, so I agreed.
Bob Affholder flew a group of us to St.
Louis and we drove downtown to see a
cured-in-place pipe (CIPP) installation. I
came home and told my wife, "One day
I'm going to work for that company." Soon
thereafter I saw an ad in the Wall Street
Journal for a position with Insituform of
North America in Memphis. I interviewed
in December 1983, started on Jan. 16,
1984, and worked there for 31 years.
My first role at Insituform was associate
technical director. Sounds impressive, but
there were only two of us, the technical
director, Tom Driver, and me. I was
employee number 25 of Insituform North
America back when its business model was
manufacturing CIPP tubes and licensing
contractors to install the product. I was
once again able to get back in the field by

Lynn and Ivy Osborn

visiting licensees to help with training on
new installation techniques and providing
other support. Back in the mid-1980s,
tubes were typically small-diameter -
24-inch was an accomplishment - and
we were getting requests for larger tubes,
which required different installation
processes and techniques. So, as the
industry changed and grew, so did my
education and knowledge.

Unique experience
During my time at Insituform, I was
honored to have worked side-by-side
with Eric Wood, the inventor of CIPP.
It all started when he was asked by the
Greater London Council to help find a
method of rehabilitating sewer pipes for
Thames Water. Eric's invention of CIPP
was first used in 1971 in an egg-shaped
Victorian sewer in the London Borough
of Hackney which, as far as I know, is still
in service to this day.
After this success, Eric helped form
Insituform International and then
Insituform Group Limited and went on to
register numerous patents until his sad
and untimely death in a 1994 airplane
crash that took his life, and that of his son.
Insituform was very much involved
with NASSCO. In fact, Al Colthorp,
Insituform's former director of marketing,
was one of a handful of guys who started
NASSCO back in 1976. When he left
Insituform of North America and joined
Insituform Mid-America, others took up
the NASSCO banner, including me.

Lynn Osborn (right) and Eugene Zaltsman at a break in a NASSCO meeting.

32

MARCH 2020 | UConOnline.com

In 2006 I was nominated to serve on
NASSCO's Board of Directors and have
been extremely involved ever since. In
fact, when I retired from Insituform
in December 2014, I had formed LEO
Consulting to provide consulting services
to the industry. NASSCO's former technical
director, Gerry Muenchmeyer, was looking
for his successor in that role and asked me
to consider taking over.
I became NASSCO's Technical Director
as of Jan. 1, 2015 and will continue to
serve in that role until NASSCO's 2020
Annual Conference. Luckily, I will continue
to remain involved through my participation as one of five members of NASSCO's
newly formed Technical Advisory Council.
Over the year, I have had the privilege of
watching NASSCO continue to evolve and
grow. Originally formed as a contractor
trade association to set standards for the
assessment, maintenance and rehabilitation of underground infrastructure
and to assure the continued acceptance
and growth of trenchless technologies,
NASSCO now also does an excellent job
of representing other segments of the
industry. These include public agencies and
system owners, consulting engineers, and
the suppliers and manufacturers of trenchless technology equipment and materials.
This has resulted in broader knowledge and
more ideas to move our industry forward.
When it comes to standards, the best
and most productive thing that can happen
for our industry is for people, organizations and associations to come together
to have a consistent voice for setting
quality standards, so work is done right the
first time. As far back as the late 1980s, I
remember working with APWA and Dave
Magill (Avanti) on several seminars promoting trenchless technologies. Dave was a
leader in grouting, and I represented CIPP.
While some may consider those opposing
technologies, Dave and I knew that each
rehabilitation project was unique and,
therefore, a variety of trenchless solutions
presented a huge opportunity to build
awareness and raise the tide for everyone.
At its core, that's what NASSCO is all
about - competitors coming together to
focus on one thing: improving the way we
serve our communities through the proper
inspection, maintenance and rehabilitation
of underground infrastructure. *
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