About Patrick
Irish civil engineer, Norwegian road designer, and with Novapoint since it was called NovaCAD.
Paper and NovaCAD, Drammen 1988
Patrick started as a road designer at the Norwegian Public Roads Administration's office in Drammen in 1988. Road design was manual, on paper. He drew the E18 through Kobbervikdalen by hand. But the digital revolution had begun: the administration had adopted the first version of what later became Novapoint, then called NovaCAD. As one of the new people in the office, he threw himself at it.
Vianova called, 1993
The enthusiasm was noticed. In 1993 Vianova Systems called and asked him to join. It became a journey of more than twenty years: CEO from 2001, director of sales and marketing, domain lead for Novapoint Road, and chairman of the board when Trimble bought the company in 2015. In the late 1990s he set up Vianova's office in Thailand.
The user conferences
What he is proudest of is the brukermøter, the annual Novapoint user conferences. For years he ran them, and they built a community of road designers who shared best practice, ideas and enthusiasm for the craft.
Trimble, 2015–2026
Trimble was a big step: from a Norwegian software house to part of a global company. Trimble also brought the idea of a full lifecycle, from design through construction to operation and maintenance, and the value of managing the model through the whole of it. Patrick was European solution sales manager, then product director for Novapoint, Quadri, Quantm and Geosuite.
NovaCoach, 2026
"I have so much knowledge I want to share, and that was always the best part of the job. Now I have the luxury of spending all my time helping customers and nerding out on the product I helped create. Retirement is about doing what you love, and teaching Novapoint has always been a passion."
In short
- 1978
- BE Civil Engineering, National University of Ireland, Galway
- 1988–1993
- Road designer, Norwegian Public Roads Administration, Drammen
- 1993–2015
- Vianova Systems: CEO, sales director, domain lead Novapoint Road, chairman
- 2015–2026
- Trimble: European solution sales manager, product director Trimble Civil Design
- 2026–
- NovaCoach