Steve Bleymaier

How I’d Explain My Job to a Kindergartener

I help people in the military and the government, by giving them the tools they need to solve their problems faster and better. The tools we give them help them to “measure twice and cut once.”

My Career Journey

My dad was in the U.S. Air Force for 30 years. I followed his footsteps and served for 28 years. In my last assignment as the director of Logistics, Engineering and Force Protection for Headquarters Air Mobility Command, I led a team that helped the Air Force figure out predictive analytics and condition-based maintenance. My job was to keep their aircraft flying for as long as possible because unlike the commercial world, the Air Force keeps its aircraft for 50+ years in many cases, and some are projected to fly for more than a hundred years.

In 2019, I started to think about what I wanted to do after I retired from the Air Force. As I transitioned to being a civilian in the workforce, I began a consultancy firm to advise on aircraft sustainment and logistics. It was then that I became connected to Ansys. After consulting for the Federal Aerospace and Defense (FA&D) team for seven months, I joined Ansys full time.

Simulation is a Defense

In 2020, I became the team lead for the government side of the FA&D team. Through my experience in the military, I am able to have conversations about the value of using Ansys simulation.

As a matter of fact, after personnel, the largest part of the Department of Defense (DOD) budget is operations and support (sustainment). My job is to help the federal team help the government solve problems, speed up acquisition and find ways to reduce total life cycle costs by using Ansys solutions.   

Why I Choose Ansys

I really liked the people I was consulting for in FA&D. I also loved the Ansys mission and I aligned well with its values, so it was easy for me to want to be part of the Ansys FA&D team.

When I learned about the solutions Ansys provided and I thought about what I had been doing, I really wished I had heard of Ansys when I was in the Air Force.  I immediately thought about how Ansys could help the Air Force and the rest of the DOD, and where I could help Ansys to understand aircraft sustainment and what I like to call the “last great frontier of the digital thread.” Eighty percent of the systems used in the DOD are “legacy” and don’t have much digital thread to begin with, but will be used for many years to come; so, figuring out how to “back in” digital thread to systems that are already fielded is a challenge, but critical to figuring out how to incorporate Ansys solutions such as  hybrid digital twin in legacy systems.

Helping Other Veterans

About a year and a half ago, I was commissioned along with a fellow veteran colleague to start our Veterans at Ansys employee resource group to create a community for everyone at Ansys to support veterans, have comradery, and participate in professional development. In addition, we hope to help make sure Ansys is set up as a veteran-friendly company and work with our human resource colleagues to ensure that military experience is translated into relevant work experience.

With that being said, I’m happy to share that we recently committed to a partnership with the American Corporate Partners (ACP) mentoring program in 2022. ACP is a US-based nonprofit that assists post-9/11 veterans in their transition from the military to a civilian workforce. ACP partners with corporations like Ansys to provide mentoring, career counseling and professional networking for veterans and active-duty military spouses in the U.S.

My Best Advice

It would be the same advice that I gave to Airmen in the Air Force: always do your best and have a positive attitude in everything you do. If you focus on those two things that you completely control, you will improve, people will want you on their team and you’ll positively influence the people and teams around you and create the best opportunities to achieve your full potential.

What You Might Not Know

• My grandfather was in the Army Air Corps when it became the Air Force in 1947. Before he retired, my grandfather commissioned my dad, and then before he retired, my dad commissioned me. Then, right before I retired, I commissioned my oldest son as the fourth continuous generation of Bleymaiers to serve in the U.S. Air Force since its inception.
• My wife is British and we have 11 children: 4 have our DNA and we adopted 7 via foster care and international adoption.  We are also blessed with 3 grandchildren.
•  I serve as the vice chairman of the Board of Directors of a nonprofit organization called Camp David of the Ozarks that serves children of prisoners, and I’m the committee chair of my youngest sons’ Trail Life troop.