09/02/2025
- Does your workplace have a Swiss Army Knife type? One who seems to have a solution for just about every sort of tech-type problem?
SYSTEMS OFFICER STEVE LILLY holds that title for Memorial University - Conference and Event Services. Whenever, whatever the technical need might be, Steve is the go-to guy for the solution.
His main area of expertise is smooth operations of systems - audio, visual, live-streaming, registration, payment - that let Conference and Event Services as well as other Departments of the University do their business. But that's just the big picture. The fun is in the detail.
Steve's work is most obvious when in the back of the EIX Main Conference Hall at client events. Presentations, panel discussions, workshops... when screens or streaming are part of the program, Steve is there, managing a collection of links, email attachments, jump drives, and hand-written notes on napkins. From that spot in the back of the room he's making the magic happen at the front of the room on the three big screens and around the world through live-streams.
It's a lot to juggle, but Steve calmly tames the tech dragons and makes it all make sense. (And just so it's known, many of these services are part of the normal booking package at Emera Innovation Exchange. Sweet deal!).
That 'do as we go' capacity was learned and earned in the business of live sound. Before joining CES in 2022, Steve was a music tech specialist at Memorial's School of Music. In the days of the pandemic, he and the team at the Music School were early innovators/adopters of concerts online. Prior to that position, Steve worked with one of the most widely-renowned orchestras in the world, the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood.
Before all that, as a Memorial student, Steve studied Biology, Music Theory and did his Masters Degree in Sound Recording.
And in addition to all of the above, 'Steve' is the name called out when something tech goes wrong in the office. That call is usually answered with a clever quip, a booming laugh, and an answer that works. He also brings Timbits into the office.
Outside of work, Steve enjoys family life with partner Jenn, their two young daughters, and Clementine the Newfoundland-St. Bernard. And he's a musician.
