Louis Panzer: A Trailblazer in Damage Prevention

Louis is a damage prevention fanatic. This passion has been evident throughout his 20+ years in the industry, and especially since taking over as the North Carolina 811 Executive Director in 2011. Louis is one of those people who does not know how to say no to any request that might help move the needle in reducing damages. Louis has written many articles, is a highly rated speaker, and he has been an active participant in ACTS Town Halls. He always says yes, almost instantly, and he always puts in the work to do a great job.

Susan Bohl, Executive Director of OKIE811, notes that not only is Louis a "super-mega data geek" but also a "super-mega damage prevention champion." She appreciates his positive outlook and fun-loving humor, highlighting his generous sharing of knowledge with others and his willingness to serve on committees and boards.

Scott Landes of Excavation Safety Alliance mentioned one of the most notable things Louis volunteered for was joining the Gig Safely Band. This concept came about when Scott was in Australia at a gas conference and the entertainment at their banquet was a band made up of all people from a large gas distribution company in Australia, API. He mentioned the idea of forming a band to Mike Sullivan, President of Utility Safety Partners who plays in a couple bands, and he loved it. With Louis’ experience with the band Nocturnus he was a natural and of course said yes. Scott was shocked that Louis Panzer, Jose Espino, Wendy Schaefer, Mike Sullivan, JD Maniscalco, and Jason Manning could all meet and practice for maybe an hour then play a couple great sets at the annual conference welcome reception.

You can say Louis wrote the book on damage prevention, literally. In 2021 Louis and Ahmed Al-Bayati, PhD, published Underground Utilities for Construction Practitioners and Homeowners, based on research they conducted on reducing third party damage. Louis is a very rare mix of passion for data and analytics and creativity. Louis loves to dive deep into the numbers and yet he is also totally comfortable filming entertaining damage prevention videos that may involve crazy costumes and signing, or serious interviews. Much of what Louis contributes to the industry goes well above and beyond his official job, which is why he is our 2024 Q2 Damage Prevention Hero.