Patrick Villella

IT System & Engineering Application Administrator @Central Arizona Project

Phoenix, AZ, US

Central Arizona Project is a unique and indispensable part of Arizona\'s ecosystem. Without it, Phoenix and Tucson would not have the water they need to support the municipalities, industries, and agriculture that they rely on.The CAP Canal recently celebrated its 30th anniversary. As such, the canal and all of its dependencies, such as pumping plants, pipelines, check structures, etc. need to be continuously monitored, assessed, maintained, repaired, or replaced, to ensure that our water deliveries are never interrupted. My role in all of this is to plan, implement, and maintain IT based systems that our engineers, surveyors, inspectors, and drawing support teams use to make certain that these systems are properly designed, installed, and documented, maintaining strict security at all times.We are a very faceted team that utilizes a wide range of complex engineering and design software, including suites of Autodesk design tools, SolidWorks, WaterCAD, and Vault, all of which must work well together and integrate with our Content Server ERP system. In addition to ensuring the reliability of our engineering applications, I design and develop custom tools and integrations to support our unique workflows and improve efficiency of our teams. I\'m constantly looking at emerging technology and brainstorming how to leverage it to continually improve our internal processes. I\'m a mediator that breaks down complex technical concepts and communicates its benefit and capabilities to teams that care more about meeting and exceeding our performance goals than getting in the weeds with nuts and bolts of tech. By doing so, I\'m able to educate, inform, and energize teams to make the most of powerful technology. This is a role I\'m quite comfortable in and adept with, cultivated during 16 years as an applications engineer consultant. I thrive on challenges and get personal satisfaction out of breaking down complex problems and working closely with a team to solve them.