Steven Hillstrom
CEO & Chairman
Role
Steven is the founder and CEO of Xeratec. He has led the company for 20 years, growing it from a one man business into a lively office with remote employees spread across the the U.S. Steven is currently focusing his time running the lead on LoadTraxx. He helps facilitate vision and growth for both Xeratec and LoadTraxx and strategically works with others on execution.
Career
While working in warehousing-logistics at American Hospital Supply, Steven first taught himself programming to make his job easier. Over time he continually worked with other departments until it grew into a full time career. He eventually attended college and graduated from De Paul University with a BA in MIS. He accomplished all of this with more then a handful of kids at home. Even through his 50+ classes, Steven still learns best from hands on experience and working with others.
Fuel
Being a father of 16, Steven is a big family man- no pun intended. He truly enjoys and thrives when spending time with his wife, children and grandchildren. Traveling, scuba diving, ping pong, and golfing are a few of the activities he enjoys doing most. He also looks forward to the quiet that comes with hunting and fishing, although admittedly he is not very good in these sports.
Fun Fact
Steven started his software development training while literally driving on a forklift at Baxter Healthcare.
Special Skill
Although sales is not something that Steven typically does, he has successfully landed many contracts while stranded at the O’Hare airport in Chicago due to winter storms. He has a knack of unintentionally connecting with people in the wrong place, at the right time.
Secret Weapon
He has worked in various spaces including telecom (voice, video and data worldwide), database developer, mid-range programming, pc, web and client server programming, giving him the opportunity to work in most aspects of IT and business, whether it was suited for him or not. This has helped Steven see everything that goes into a business project, and learn his strengths when it comes to programming. Steven does well connecting people with the right skills to the projects that needs them.
