Steve Handlos graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor's degree in Forestry (1966) and a Master's degree in Business Administration (1967). He started his career with Westvaco Corporation in 1968, eventually locating in Summerville.

While working for Westvaco’s Timberlands Division, he spent one year in the field as a forester before being asked to originate and manage the division’s information technology department. Seven years later, he transferred into the accounting department where his principal task was managing the automation of their accounting system. Other duties in the accounting department included internal auditing and timber tax accounting. As a specialist in timber taxes, he assisted the tax department with IRS timber tax audits, and made a recommendation which saved Westvaco $1MM in taxes per year.

Steve left Westvaco in August, 1983 with two year "exit" contract. He continued to work for them as a tax specialist and a contract programmer until 2001, when he left to devote full time to other projects.