This page is no longer being updated and remains online for informational and historical purposes only. The information is accurate as of the last page update.
For questions about page contents, contact the Communications Division.
Secure sales positions with two Fortune 1000 companies didn't pose enough of a challenge for Thomas Quinn '84, so he left to join an upstart company in the high-performance, engineered fabrics industry. Since 1998, Quinn has been head of marketing for Nextec, an advanced materials manufacturer in Vista, Calif. Nextec's treated cottons and synthetic fabrics, called EPIC (encapsulated protection inside clothing), can be used on polyester, nylon, fiberglass, Nomex, and other fabrics.
Nextec has successfully introduced encapsulated polyester fabrics for use in health care and industrial applications, Quinn explains. It also has broken into the activewear market through a joint development partnership with Dow Corning Corporation, developing a cotton fabric that promises water resistance, fluid impermeability, and super adhesion characteristics, while maintaining breathability, comfort, and flexibility. Manufactured without solvents or other hazardous materials, the unique cotton product competes against Polartec, which dominates the market for engineered activewear fabric. Quinn's job has taken him throughout Europe, Asia, Australia, and North and South America. As director of sales, he oversees a staff of 16.
A chemical engineering graduate, Quinn played wide receiver on the football team for four years. “My engineering background helped me tremendously in problem solving within technical sales and helped me get a job,” he says. “The social front at college was extremely helpful to pull from in building relationships across a diverse group of people. And going to a school with a Division I athletics program put me in an environment with highly competitive people.” Quinn and his wife, Catherine, are the parents of 5-year-old Mac and 3-year-old Ryli.
