Viola has more than 25 years of senior management experience within the plumbing and mechanical industry. He joined IAPMO in 2007 and, prior to becoming CEO, he served as IAPMO’s chief operating officer with strategic and operational responsibility for the comprehensive array of IAPMO Group programs and services. 

Prior to joining IAPMO, Viola served as technical director for the Plumbing Manufacturers Institute (PMI) for nine years, where he oversaw all education, code and product standard development, product certification and water-efficiency activities. Before coming to PMI, he was Senior Engineer at International Code Council, responsible for plumbing and mechanical code development and training and the staff secretary for the International Plumbing Code from 1994 until 1998 while working for BOCA International and the International Code Council. Viola also served as a staff engineer and the staff secretary for the BOCA National Plumbing Code from 1991 until 1994. During his time with the ICC and BOCA, he developed training programs and code support publications in addition to teaching code courses. 

Viola serves or has served on the following notable industry committees:

• Deputy chairman and executive board member, World Plumbing Council
• Chairman, American Society of Mechanical Engineers A112 Committee on Plumbing, and member of the Board on Standardization and Testing  
• Founding director, Alliance for Water Efficiency 
• American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Accredited Certification Committee
• U.S. Green Building Council Water Efficiency Technical Advisory Group
• Green Building Initiative Commercial Green Building Committee and Water Subcommittee
• ASHRAE 191 Committee for the Efficient Use of Water in Building, Site and Mechanical Systems
• American Society of Heating Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Engineers 189 Committee for High-Performance Green Buildings 
• World Health Organization (WHO) Advisory Committee on Water Quality
• World Health Organization (WHO) Health Through the Life course program
• Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Reinvent the Toilet Technical Advisory Committee
• American Society of Plumbing Engineers Main Design Standards Committee
• American Society of Sanitary Engineering Plumbing Product Standards Committee
• Board of Directors, American Society of Mechanical Engineers Standardization and Testing
• Canadian Standards Association Plumbing Technical Committees

Viola started his plumbing industry career by working with his father in the family plumbing business. He holds a degree in mechanical engineering from Northern Illinois University. In 2005, Viola received the American Society of Sanitary Engineering Fellow Award.