Title: Associate Director, Quality Assurance (Strategic Quality Capability Lead)
Employer: Illumina
Steve is a tried and true Illini - he got both his B.S. and M.S. here, and is excited to share his experiences as a Biology student and in the biotech workforce.
Steve is pointing to a project he ran in 2017 – 2019, where he was responsible for constructing and relocating an enzyme manufacturing facility. He led portions of the project involving facility, utility, equipment, and enzyme processing areas. His responsibilities included defining the overall approach in a master plan, building teams to perform the work identified in the master plan, and relocation of an existing enzyme manufacturing facility into the new facility shown in the picture.
Between 2019 – 2025 at Illumina , Steve led both Quality Assurance teams and Engineering teams. At any given time, his teams supported numerous product launches, sustaining enzyme manufacturing activities and findings ways to improve existing processes in Madison and global sites (e.g., Singapore, Europe, California locations).
In late 2025, Steve moved into a new role at Illumina, redesigning Illumina’s global quality management system. A major focus of his effort is determining how people and organizations work effectively.
Steve is a great person to talk to about the MANY skills you need besides technical knowledge in the workforce. He is also a wonderful person to ask about careers in science, engineering, management, and quality assurance. Contact Christina Swanson at alumnimentor@sib.illinois.edu if you would like to connect with Steve.
And a as final note – the last picture shown is from a ‘Bring-your-kid-to-work’ day. Steve is active in applied science education, as shown where this “experiment applying pressure” had to be performed outside due to the reactive nature of a 2L bottle of Diet Coke, a lot of Mentos, and a restriction nozzle screwed onto the bottle. The resulting plume shot up 15-20 feet, much to the delight of the kids (and of course Steve). Currently Steve is leading an Illumina effort to support a local Madison, Wisconsin Middle School with science education.