Hi Steve,
So I actually handled the processing using FME to create 60 DEM tiles and contour each tile individually. My plan is now to do what Thomas has suggested and add the output to a GDB Feature dataset.
To manage the 60 different contour layers I'll add the 60 DEM tiles to a mosaic dataset, and export the footprints to use as a labeled index/guide so that people can ID and select the correct files.
Is that a reasonable solution?