Below the Surface: A Conversation with Keith Gilliam, Quality Engineers, Inc.
Because VTA’s Bart Silicon Valley Extension is the largest public transit infrastructure project in Santa Clara County history, we thought it would be interesting for our readers to know more about the folks who are building it. In this first installment, in honor of Black History Month, we feature Keith Gilliam.
There are engineers who build what we see—and engineers like Keith Gilliam, who focus on what holds everything up. For Keith, the real story has always been underground. He plays an integral role overseeing program management and quality assurance for the BART Silicon Valley Extension Phase II project, as a massive tunnel boring machine prepares to crawl beneath the city, ensuring that every element meets exacting standards before the first train runs.
His calling crystallized on October 17, 1989. Watching the Loma Prieta earthquake devastate the Bay Area during the World Series, he saw collapsed freeways and shattered foundations—and understood the stakes of structural failure. Already planning to attend graduate school at the University of California, Berkeley, he moved west with new purpose. What began as academic ambition became a lifelong commitment to seismic resilience and the invisible systems that keep structures standing. The Bay Area became both his home and the foundation for his work.
Keith earned his Bachelor of Science in Geology from Loyola University Maryland, with additional studies at James Madison University. He spent time in Baltimore, but California defined his trajectory. While others focused on skylines, Keith focused on what lies beneath them: soil behavior, tunneling strategy, structural integrity, and the disciplined quality control that protects the public every day.
Over three decades, he has safeguarded quality on major heavy civil projects across California and beyond. His impact is woven into the expansion of Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART). He contributed to the extension to San Francisco International Airport, California’s first design-build transit project; supported the initial phase of VTA’s BART Silicon Valley extension to Berryessa and now helps guide the final six-mile stretch carrying BART through downtown San Jose into Santa Clara.
His portfolio also includes CAHSR, TJPA Transit Center, Peninsula Corridor Electrification Program-CALMOD, the $1.5 billion Central Subway Project for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency and service as QA Manager for the BART Oakland Airport Connector, to name a few. In an industry defined by complexity and risk, Keith is known for oversight, leadership, and accountability.
In 1997, Keith became President of Quality Engineering, Inc. (QEI), founded in 1982, a certified UDBE/SBE and proudly Black-owned firm. What began as a focused quality management practice has grown into a multidisciplinary team of engineering, architectural, and LEED AP–certified professionals with offices in San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, Austin, and his hometown of Durham, North Carolina. Today, QEI oversees quality management on projects valued at more than $4 billion.
For Keith, success is not measured solely in budgets or milestones. He and his team actively support scholarships and workforce development initiatives, partnering with universities and transit agencies to expand opportunity, including outreach efforts extending to Ghana. He believes infrastructure shapes communities, and that the next generation must be equipped to build boldly and responsibly.
At home, Keith is a husband and father of three who finds renewal in travel, fishing, sailing, and hiking. The curiosity that drew him west decades ago still drives him forward.
Because VTA’s Bart Silicon Valley Extension is the largest public transit infrastructure project in Santa Clara County history, we thought it would be interesting for our readers to know more about the folks who are building it. In this first installment, in honor of Black History Month, we feature Keith Gilliam.
There are engineers who build what we see—and engineers like Keith Gilliam, who focus on what holds everything up. For Keith, the real story has always been underground. He plays an integral role overseeing program management and quality assurance for the BART Silicon Valley Extension Phase II project, as a massive tunnel boring machine prepares to crawl beneath the city, ensuring that every element meets exacting standards before the first train runs.
His calling crystallized on October 17, 1989. Watching the Loma Prieta earthquake devastate the Bay Area during the World Series, he saw collapsed freeways and shattered foundations—and understood the stakes of structural failure. Already planning to attend graduate school at the University of California, Berkeley, he moved west with new purpose. What began as academic ambition became a lifelong commitment to seismic resilience and the invisible systems that keep structures standing. The Bay Area became both his home and the foundation for his work.
Keith earned his Bachelor of Science in Geology from Loyola University Maryland, with additional studies at James Madison University. He spent time in Baltimore, but California defined his trajectory. While others focused on skylines, Keith focused on what lies beneath them: soil behavior, tunneling strategy, structural integrity, and the disciplined quality control that protects the public every day.
Over three decades, he has safeguarded quality on major heavy civil projects across California and beyond. His impact is woven into the expansion of Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART). He contributed to the extension to San Francisco International Airport, California’s first design-build transit project; supported the initial phase of VTA’s BART Silicon Valley extension to Berryessa and now helps guide the final six-mile stretch carrying BART through downtown San Jose into Santa Clara.
His portfolio also includes CAHSR, TJPA Transit Center, Peninsula Corridor Electrification Program-CALMOD, the $1.5 billion Central Subway Project for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency and service as QA Manager for the BART Oakland Airport Connector, to name a few. In an industry defined by complexity and risk, Keith is known for oversight, leadership, and accountability.
In 1997, Keith became President of Quality Engineering, Inc. (QEI), founded in 1982, a certified UDBE/SBE and proudly Black-owned firm. What began as a focused quality management practice has grown into a multidisciplinary team of engineering, architectural, and LEED AP–certified professionals with offices in San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, Austin, and his hometown of Durham, North Carolina. Today, QEI oversees quality management on projects valued at more than $4 billion.
For Keith, success is not measured solely in budgets or milestones. He and his team actively support scholarships and workforce development initiatives, partnering with universities and transit agencies to expand opportunity, including outreach efforts extending to Ghana. He believes infrastructure shapes communities, and that the next generation must be equipped to build boldly and responsibly.
At home, Keith is a husband and father of three who finds renewal in travel, fishing, sailing, and hiking. The curiosity that drew him west decades ago still drives him forward.