Dr. Steven Johnston is Chief Strategy Officer and Chief of Staff to the CEO at SEMI. In this role, he leads global enterprise strategy, strategic partnerships, and M&A activities, while driving cross-functional initiatives focused on technology innovation, sustainability, public policy and advocacy, workforce development, international standards, and market intelligence. He is responsible for defining SEMI’s strategic vision and translating it into measurable outcomes that support the business objectives of SEMI’s 4,000+ companies worldwide.
Prior to SEMI, Dr. Johnston served as Vice President and Head of Technology Transformation and Enablement at Merck KGaA / EMD Electronics, where he led global technology scouting and founded the company’s Bioconvergence program integrating electronics, life science, and healthcare technologies for disruptive innovation. He also served on Merck KGaA’s electronics technology leadership board for novel semiconductor and display/AR materials development and CVC investment executive committee supporting semiconductor and electronics ecosystem growth.
Earlier in his career, Dr. Johnston spent 21 years at Intel Corporation, most recently as Senior Director of Supplier Technology and Industry Development. He led Intel’s proprietary research and early development supply chain programs across equipment, materials, components, and design ecosystems, while overseeing worldwide consortia and government funding agency programs to advance pre-competitive next-generation technology development. He also led Intel’s strategic supply chain planning, technology and manufacturing strategic market research, global supply chain IP/collaboration and CVC approvals, and aligned Intel’s supply chain strategic vision with peer memory and foundry manufacturers as well as broader semiconductor industry organizations. In addition to technology development, Dr. Johnston oversaw multiple end-to-end supply chain portfolios exceeding $1.4B in value.
Dr. Johnston has served on several industry boards and advisory councils including SEMATECH, G450C, IMEC, and SEMI’s Board of Industry Leaders and was a founding member of the SRC/SIA Semiconductor Research Vision initiative. He also has been a member of the SEMI and SIA CTO committees, Silicon Catalyst and EvoNexus startup technology selection committees, and SEMI’s Smart Data-AI and Smart MedTech executive advisory councils. Dr. Johnston holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Florida, holds 17 patents, and has authored more than 60 publications and presentations.