Born in Geneva to American parents, Tom has addressed the challenges of leadership in a variety of environments from Swiss corporates to multi–national European projects to Alaska’s Bering Sea. He has led high–performing teams and guided strategic decision–making in corporate boardrooms.
Tom’s experience in customer driven foresight and strategic planning has shown him that success goes far beyond having the right tool set. It requires leadership on a variety of levels. Tom brings an expert view of European consumers together with the deep domain knowledge of individual business units in a structured way to identify opportunities for growth. He then guides leaders from opportunities to concrete actions assessing implications for revenue, brand, and customer experience.
As an executive coach, his experience in leading multi–cultural, multi–language European teams gives him a unique perspective on the challenges and dynamics involved. Tom builds awareness of the multiple meanings that actions and words can have in such a context and helps leaders to understand their own actions, their teams, unlock their potential, and achieve excellence.
In the area of leading change, Tom’s leadership experience within corporate innovation at multiple firms gives him a broad and deep perspective. As a trained anthropologist, Tom’s approach includes structure and processes as well as the area of culture and mindset. He supports leaders in understanding and then intervening in the culture of a team or business unit in a way that is authentic for them andthat encourages lasting change. Tom knows the continuous attention that leading change requires and enjoys seeing leaders succeed in this challenging and rewarding task.
Tom holds an advanced degree in social research and a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Edinburgh. After 14 years of Bering Sea fishing, he has spent the last 16 years working in Swiss corporates at the intersection of customer, innovation, strategy, and transformation. With a deep knowledge of telecommunications and mobility, Tom has led multi–cultural, multi–language, and distributed teams.
Speaking four languages and doing business in English and German, he has spent the last twenty years in Switzerland. He enjoys the beautiful Swiss mountains in the summer and winter, with his wife, two daughters, and their dog.
