Stephen Trammell – SESHA Fellow

Steve began his career in the semiconductor industry in 1993, at the Motorola facility in Austin, Texas. Starting out as a senior safety engineer, he worked his way up to a safety supervisor, then as the manager of the organization’s first EHS Technology Group. He assisted the company in startups worldwide and spent many months at the company’s greenfield site in Tianjin, China in the 1997-2000 timeframe. This was the first non-Chinese fully integrated factory ever built in that country. When the Motorola semiconductor sector spun off into Freescale Semiconductor, Steve took over the role as manager of the international EHS audit group, where he led teams on global audits and consulted on company and country specific regulatory compliance. In 2008 Steve had the opportunity to join the SEMATECH International consortium where he was a project manager, working on pre-competitive global EHS initiatives for the industry. He also worked as an EHS consultant for BSI group for several years until founding Padre Consulting Services LLC in 2022 and is currently the Managing Principal.

Prior to entering the semiconductor industry, he worked in the petrochemical industry for Phillips Petroleum at their headquarters in Bartlesville, Oklahoma and at a refinery in Woods Cross, Utah. During his time at Phillips, he had the opportunity to work with a corporate team organizing and establishing the company’s first Process Safety Management program. He also worked in the defense/aerospace industry for Hercules (Magna, UT), Morton-Thiokol (Brigham City, UT), United Technologies (Morgan Hill, UT) and Pratt & Whitney (West Palm Beach, FL). During that span of his career his projects included conducting system safety studies on NASA’s Space Shuttle solid rocket motor program and the Air Force’s Peacekeeper and Titan D4 missile programs.

Steve’s association with SESHA started in 1995, presenting at the annual symposium in Scottsdale, AZ. Over the years, he has presented at more than two dozen annual conferences, regional mini-conferences, and local chapter meetings. He was president of the local Austin chapter for 5 years and was president of SESHA for two different terms, 2012 – 2013 and 2022 – 2023.  Steve was invited to apply for the Board of Directors in 2008 and has served continuously from then through 2025.  He has chaired or co-chaired the annual symposium planning committee for more than 10 years (2007 – 2017) and served on numerous board committees during his tenure. Steve has received 4 President’s awards and was elected as a Fellow in 2024.

Steve grew up in deep South Texas in the Rio Grande Valley. He went to the University of Texas at Austin where he graduated with a Mechanical Engineering degree, and shortly thereafter attained his Professional Engineering license. When not working, Steve and his wife Linda enjoy traveling, fishing, golf, UT football and raising Scottish Terriers.