Leader Under 40: Levi Hill

I+E Technician, Kinder Morgan CO2 – United States Navy/Marine Corps experience; AS Electronic Technology, Barstow College; BA Business Admin, Colorado Technical University, Concentration: IT

Control Engineering Staff

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Levi Hill, 28

I+E Technician, Kinder Morgan CO2 , www.kindermorgan.com

Cortez, Colo.

Academics

United States Navy/Marine Corps experience; AS Electronic Technology, Barstow College; BA Business Admin, Colorado Technical University, Concentration: IT

Achievements

During four years with Kinder Morgan CO2 (KMCO2), Hill has been promoted from a SCADA Tech level 1 position and climbed up to his current position as an I+E Tech level 4. He has assisted with multiple automation checkouts and SCADA design for two main pump stations on the Cortez pipeline (roughly 500 miles of a 30-in. CO2 pipeline) and two new production facilities. He has also been involved in every expansion project that KMCO2 has been involved in for the past 4 years, including Central Basin Pipeline Reversal Project, Eastern Shelf Pipeline, and Central Basin/Sheep Mountain Booster Pumps projects. He assisted in automation checkouts and communications installations and is responsible for KMCO2's microwave backbone system (12 NEC DS1 microwave radios and 4 DS3 radios and associated equipment). The microwave system, with nearly zero downtime, keeps SCADA and business networks functioning at six production facilities in Southwestern Colorado. The current SCADA Verizon VSAT network for KMCO2 has also been installed and maintained by Hill and consists of more than 68 remote sites and more than 500 miles of pipelines. He assists with VSAT installs from every entity of Kinder Morgan. Hill is also part of the five-member SCADA support group for KMCO2 and deals with multiple tasks associated with SCADA support, as a field-side technician, helping with HMI design, PLC programming, and communications to remote sites. Based on test drives and evaluations, Hill helped influence CO2’s next SCADA system, and the upgrade is now underway.

Non-work-related activity

Install/design automated sprinkler systems: Being asked by a neighbor to assist in programming a controller for a sprinkler system with a complex valve system sparked Hill’s interest to install his own system and help family and other friends with theirs.

Engineering-related activity

He helps design and engineer a family’s large Christmas light show display on the outside of a house, an annual effort that receives praise by many in the community.

Interesting details

Hill loves the outdoors and everything about rural Colorado living: hunting, fishing, boating, and camping.

Began interest

Watching films like “Short Circuit” and playing with remote control devices (cars/planes) as a youth sparked his interest in electronics and automation, followed up with 4 years of avionics in the Navy.

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