For Michael Gill, engineering — and the U — is part of the family business.
After two decades at Dominion Energy, he’s now the company’s Director of Engineering; a role he has been serving in since 2018. He’s also a member of the John and Marcia Price College of Engineering’s Industrial Advisory Board and a second-generation alum of the school. Gill graduated with a Bachelor’s in Civil and Environmental in 1995, following in the footsteps of his father, Lowell Gill, who graduated with degrees in Industrial Engineering in 1978 and 1979.
And like his son would go on to do, the elder Gill began a career in energy with Dominion, then known as Questar, after graduating from the U.
“My dad was a huge influence on me wanting to go into engineering in the first place, but I also wanted to forge my own path,” says Gill. “I worked with a local civil and structural engineering company after graduating, and joined Dominion in 2002 after he retired.”
As Dominion’s Director of Engineering, Gill is now responsible for new construction projects, as well as design work for new systems in response to population growth. Gill also oversees the company’s infrastructure replacement program. This program is focused on replacing aging infrastructure in the Dominion Energy system; some of its large-diameter pipes date back as far as the 1930’s. In a rapidly shifting energy landscape, maintaining this infrastructure, both new and old, has never been more important.
Gill also played a critical role in development and construction of the company’s Magna LNG facility. “One of the largest projects I’ve been involved with is the project development for the Magna LNG plant, which is a large LNG manufacturing and storage facility in Salt Lake City,” says Gill. “The project was designed to provide supply reliability for the Dominion Wasatch Front customers.“
This 3-year long project was completed in 2022 and serves as a safety net for Dominion Energy customers community where constant and reliable energy sources are critical.
These sorts of projects drawn not only on Gill’s civil engineering training, but project management experience he developed with mentors at the U. He oversees five engineering groups, consisting of 360 full-time employees and contractors, who are involved in the planning, surveying, drafting, design and construction on Dominion’s gas distribution systems. Gill’s management responsibilities also require building and fostering relationships with a host of stakeholders such as working with developers on new projects and, when required, the Utah Public Service Commission and regulators to get necessary project approvals.
And even though their careers at Dominion were independent of each other, they have teamed up on an important and collaborative project. Beginning in 2016, the Gills combined their individual contributions to the Price College of Engineering to create the Gill Family Endowed Scholarship for engineering students, which currently exceeds $115,000. The interest earnings from their endowment, along with $2,000 from the College’s matching fund program for endowed scholarship donations, provides over $6,000 in annual scholarship support.
“The U gave my dad and I, well-rounded educations, not just in technical skills, but the value of people,” says Gill. “That’s something we are very committed to supporting for future students.”