CGA Announces NTSB Director Patrick Warren and Safety Expert Garrison Wynn as Keynotes for 2026 Conference & Expo

Nation's largest gathering of its kind returns to Colorado Springs with anticipated record attendance during National Safe Digging Month

WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES, March 5, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Common Ground Alliance (CGA), the national non-profit association dedicated to protecting underground utility lines, people who dig near them, and their communities, today announced keynote speakers for the 2026 CGA Conference & Expo in Colorado Springs, Colo., from April 27-30.

Patrick T. Warren, Director of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)'s Office of Railroad, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Investigations, and corporate leadership, change, and safety expert Garrison Wynn will headline this year’s Conference & Expo, which is expected to break CGA’s attendance records as the largest, most impactful conference of its kind in America.

The 2026 event represents a pivotal moment for a persistent challenge: nearly 200,000 incidents of damage to buried utilities each year, costing the U.S. at least $30 billion annually. More than 20 million miles of buried utility infrastructure—power, water, internet, natural gas, and other utility lines—run beneath American communities.

Warren's address comes as the NTSB has investigated some of the nation's most significant pipeline and hazardous materials incidents. These include explosions from utility strikes in Youngstown, Ohio; West Reading, Pa.; and Lexington, Mo., among others. Warren’s career spans decades across the Federal Aviation Administration, the Federal Railroad Administration, the U.S. Department of Transportation, NATO and the U.S. Army.

"Director Warren's perspective and experience will offer critical insights towards our shared mission of preventing infrastructure damage across the country. The NTSB’s incident investigations and resulting recommendations are critical to informing how we can strengthen industry practices to keep our communities and workers safe," said CGA President and CEO Sarah K. Magruder Lyle. "Together with Garrison Wynn's expertise on building cultures of safety and leadership, this year's Conference & Expo programming reflects our commitment to raising the bar on damage prevention."

Warren’s insights into investigation findings, safety recommendations and regulatory implications will provide attendees with an unparalleled understanding of how federal oversight intersects with industry damage prevention efforts.

“Protecting America’s critical buried infrastructure from damage is paramount to ensuring the safety and security of communities across the nation – a message I’m pleased to deliver at this year’s CGA Conference & Expo,” said Patrick Warren. “We’re committed to working with stakeholders like the Common Ground Alliance to ensure the implementation of critical NTSB recommendations into damage prevention best practices, helping to not only reduce incidents and mitigate risk, but prevent tragedies.”

Garrison Wynn brings a unique blend of real-world safety experience, communication expertise and humor to the stage. A chemical plant explosion survivor, bestselling author, Fortune 500 leader and professional stand-up comedian, Wynn has spent more than 25 years delivering presentations to global companies including Amazon, Intel, Lockheed Martin, American Express, Walmart and others. His approach fuses levity, research and authentic experience to demonstrate how organizations can create lasting cultures of safety.

"It’s a privilege to be a part of this year’s conference and to contribute to the important work of charting the course for damage prevention,” said Garrison Wynn. "When we come together with shared purpose — across organizations and disciplines — we elevate safety for communities everywhere. I look forward to the dialogue and the opportunity to help strengthen this mission."

About the CGA Conference & Expo: The CGA Conference & Expo is the only event convening all 15 stakeholder groups involved in excavation around buried utilities, with the shared goal of preventing damage to critical underground infrastructure.

Taking place during National Safe Digging Month in April, the 2026 CGA Conference & Expo will be held April 27-30 at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colo. with the theme "Chart the Future of Damage Prevention."

The conference will feature interactive educational sessions on topics from pipeline safety to AI in damage prevention. The 100,000 square feet of Expo Hall exhibit space will highlight technologies for safely digging, locating and installing underground utility lines, such as GPS-enabled ground-penetrating radar devices, vacuum excavation equipment and cloud-enabled handheld subsurface mapping equipment.

Registration for the 2026 CGA Conference & Expo is open now. For more information and to register, visit CGAConference.com.

About Common Ground Alliance: CGA is a member-driven association of nearly 4,000 damage prevention professionals spanning every facet of the underground utility industry. Established in 2000, CGA is committed to saving lives and preventing damage to North American underground infrastructure by promoting effective damage prevention practices. CGA has established itself as the preeminent source of damage prevention data and information to reduce damages to underground facilities in North America through shared responsibility among all stakeholders.

Franco Ripple
Common Ground Alliance
+1 352-219-6029
email us here

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