EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – Gilbert Trejo, one of the top executives at El Paso Water, is in many ways the quintessential El Paso/Borderland story. Gilbert Trejo, vice president of operations and technical services for El Paso Water. Photo courtesy of El Paso Water. Trejo, vice president of operations and technical services for El Paso Water, grew up in El Paso’s Lower Valley, the son of Mexican immigrants, who set the example of hard work and how to respect others. He graduated from Ysleta High and later UTEP and earned his graduate degree at the University of Texas at Austin.  He went off to see other places and lived in Austin and the Dallas-Fort Worth area before coming back to El Paso to raise his family and try to make a difference in his hometown. KTSM.com is profiling Hispanic business and community leaders in the greater El Paso region as part of Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15. But Trejo’s story of success all begins with his parents, Pablo and Antonia Trejo, who immigrated to the United States from Mexico in the early 1970s and have since become naturalized U.S. citizens. Gilbert Trejo's parents: Antonia and Pablo Trejo. His father worked as a butcher for Big 8 supermarkets. His mother was a stay-at-home mom who made sure they had warm meals, clean clothes and also set the example, Trejo said. “He (my father) never complained about having to get up and go to work, whether it was a long day,” Trejo said. “Not until I started to work at my first job did I realize that the regular workweek was Monday through Friday,” Trejo said. “I really had no idea. He would work weekends all the time. “He would get scheduled one day off in the middle of the week, whenever it was his turn,” Trejo said. “It was random. It was never the same and he never had a weekend off. “Huge kudos to my dad,” he continued. “He always worked, never complained. That was his job.” Pablo Trejo also instilled a sense of respect, a respect for others in his four sons, Trejo said. “My dad was so big on respect for others, everybody,” Gilbert Trejo said. “No caveats, respect your elders, respect period. Respect everybody. That was something he really drove home.” Trejo and all three of his brothers – Joel, Paul and Gabriel – all grew up to be professional engineers.  While their father set the standard with his great work ethic and how to treat others, it was their mother, Antonia, who got them all interested in the way things work, which is really what engineering is all about. Their mother was the household “engineer,” Gilbert Trejo said. “My mom is, for sure, the engineer of the family,” he said. “She would stay at home and take care of us. I look back and look at her house now and see what she has done with rainwater capture. She has been doing greywater recycle our whole lives and never really thought about it. “I just see what she has done; she jerry-rigs like MacGyver at home,” he continued. “We are engineers because of her. We are successful because of our dad’s work ethic and of course, our mom’s work ethic, too.” Gilbert Trejo got his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Texas at El Paso. He later got his master’s degree in environmental and water resources engineering, with an emphasis in water treatment, from UT-Austin. In many ways, Trejo has been interested in water, how it moves and how it gets treated, since he was a boy and saw a presentation from El Paso Water that featured its mascot, Willie the Water Drop, he said. After high school, he worked for the El Paso County Water Improvement District, cleaning their canals. “That is where my interest in water really began,” Trejo said.  While at UTEP, he got an internship with the City of Fort Worth in their Engineering Department. It was his first time out of El Paso for any extended period of time, he said. “It was a super eye-opener,” he said. “I got to see the world a bit but also see the world of engineering.” When he came back to El Paso to complete his studies at UTEP, he got an internship at El Paso Water. He worked in the sewer collection division, putting together what is now a digital database of maps, he said. And he was hooked on water from that point forward, he said. While at UT-Austin, he got a job with the U.S. Geological Service, after making a cold call to the agency to see if they had anything for him. “My foundation was really in all these public agencies, whether in municipal, county, federal,” Trejo said. After he got his graduate degree from UT-Austin, he went to the private sector and worked for an engineering consulting firm in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. He worked for that company for nine years in the Metroplex and then moved back to El Paso for two years with the same company. He has now been at El Paso Water for about a decade now, starting out as chief technical officer, a job he held for eight years. He then spent one year as the chief operations officer in treatment and production. He has been in his current job as vice president of operations and technical services for just under two years now. “It means everything to me to work for the utility that had such a huge influence on me,” Trejo said. “To be able to influence the 50-year water plan and beyond, discussions we have had about the real far-range future and what the City will look like,” Trejo said. “It all starts with water and water supply. “It is an honor (to work) for El Paso Water,” Trejo said. “I love this community and will do right by it. It is an honor to work here and it means the world to me.” One of the big pluses of working for El Paso Water has been being able to raise his blended family with wife, Noemi, here in El Paso. Trejo has three daughters – Analy, Sofia and Gracie, ranging in age from college freshman to grade school. He also has two stepchildren – Angel and Mia. “We are all very happy together and love El Paso,” he said.