2024 Engineering Leader Under 40: Dru Vitale, 35

Dru Vitale, 35
Controls & Automation Engineer
Hargrove Controls & Automation
Baton Rouge, LA

What Makes Dru an Engineering Leader

Dru has been an exceptional engineer, wearing multiple hats throughout his career. He has worked on client sites as an owner representative, handling day-to-day operations, leading automation projects, and taking on long-term commissioning systems across the country. One of his most notable achievements is his willingness to learn and master older, outdated systems, which is crucial for successful migrations. Dru is a teammate who goes above and beyond to assist others, ensuring his contributions significantly impact project success.

Achievements, Advancements & Career-related Industry Contributions

Dru has successfully brought many projects to completion, spending considerable time onsite in forward-facing roles with clients. He excels at finding on-the-fly solutions and works closely with operations to ensure they are comfortable using any new, modified, or migrated process controls.

Non-work-related Activities & Hobbies

Dru has traveled to Greece, fulfilling a childhood fascination with Greek mythology. He thoroughly enjoyed visiting the locations and ruins from the stories he loved learning about as a kid.

Interesting Details

Dru enjoys going to the gym and has a passion for cooking and baking. Occasionally, he brings his culinary creations to the office for his teammates to taste test.

Why Dru Chose This Career

Unlike other disciplines, controls and automation engineers often find themselves in situations where they must develop and implement solutions in real-time in the field. While this can be stressful, Dru finds it rewarding to implement a solution and see it succeed.

Original content can be found at Plant Engineering.

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