Wally Todd: A Life-Long Expert in the Gas Industry
After 20 years of running his own business, System Valve Services, Inc., Wally Todd partnered with The Blythe Company to serve as a consultant and trainer in valve repair services. As a new employee of the expanding Blythe Company, he’s offered more than just knowledge and hands-on training in the field.
With his expertise in the natural gas industry, which started in 1973 for a gas company in Illinois, Todd has been able to assist The Blythe Company with key insights and training leadership. This new addition to the company began in November 2018, when Todd officially started in his new role. But because of Todd’s extensive history in the gas industry, he and Perry Blythe have known each other for years.
It’s The Blythe Company’s workplace culture that ultimately drew Wally Todd to the position.
“They’re good people. They’re like a family-owned business, only they’re larger than that,” Todd explained. “It’s an expanding business that has a family-owned atmosphere, let’s put it that way. Everybody that I’ve met at Blythe is just extremely nice.”
And if Todd was going to merge his services as a self-employed valve repair technician operating under System Valve Services Inc., he saw no better company to do it with.
“They know their business and I felt that if I were going to leave a reputation — and I have a good reputation in the gas industry for valve repairs — I felt that if I was going to transfer that over to somebody, The Blythe Company is a good fit for it,” he said. “That’s the reason why we put our heads together and made this thing work.”
Wally Todd first entered the natural gas industry at 19 years old. He most appreciates the industry because of the companies he’s encountered. He first started as a serviceman and pipeline installer and over the years, has worked his way up to managerial positions and directing construction in the gas industry.
While some industries may prioritize customers on a first-come-first-serve basis, Todd has found that the gas industry and the companies that operate in it are more understanding and down-to-earth than that.
“If you have a job to do for a gas company that’s requesting maintenance but you have another call from another gas company that says they have an emergency, most gas companies understand that emergencies are prioritized as, ‘You’ve gotta be there,’” WallynTodd stated. “And the gas industry is such that they understand if one guy has a problem, they don’t mind releasing you to go get [the other company’s] job done before doing theirs.”
As a consultant and trainer for The Blythe Company, Wally Todd has seen it all. From even the smallest repairs on two-inch valves to repairs on 36-inch valves, he’s used his decades-long experience in the gas industry and its valve repair subset.
Todd explained that the gas industry uses three main types of valves: gate valves, ball valves, and plug valves. Through The Blythe Company, Todd helps technicians train to work on repair all three major valve types, and most of the time, according to him, they’re able to complete repairs without shutting off the valves, decreasing workplace downtime.
But overall, Wally Todd found a position with a great company in an industry he enjoys.
“The gas industry’s just a very good industry to work in, and I’ve enjoyed my time working in the natural gas industry,” Todd concluded. “And Blythe, they represent a supplier for the industry and they represent them well, and I couldn’t be happier working for them.”
