ABOUT THOM

The work beneath the work

My work has spanned behavioral science, organizational development, intervention and conflict resolution, brand strategy, leadership advisory, and the human realities beneath them.

Over time, it became clear that whether the setting was a boardroom, a team in fracture, a relationship under strain, or a person standing at a threshold in life, the work was always human. Helping people see clearly, live truthfully, and move forward with courage.

Professional arc

For decades, I worked across complex organizational systems, helping leaders, teams, and institutions navigate change, resistance, conflict, innovation, and high-stakes trade-offs. My path has taken me through Fortune 500 companies, founder-led businesses, government, nonprofit, and global creative environments. I’ve worked across industries, cultures, and disciplines, always drawn to the intersection of human behavior, strategy, alignment, and innovation.

My background bridges the worlds of behavioral science and design thinking. I’ve long been interested in what helps people, teams, and systems evolve and what gets in the way. In many ways, I’ve thought of myself as an alchemist of sorts: studying the conditions that allow clarity, courage, trust, creativity, and meaningful change to emerge.

That understanding now shapes the focus of my work.

Current focus

Today, I work through coaching, counsel, selective team development, writing, speaking, and thought leadership.

My approach blends deep insight, compassionate directness, emotional depth, strategic perspective, grounded humanity, and the kind of light-heartedness that helps people breathe while doing hard things. I’m known for being direct without being hard, compassionate without being vague, and unafraid of the conversations most people spend years artfully avoiding.

Writing & thought leadership

I care deeply about the places where transformation becomes real, not performative. The places where identity shifts, old patterns loosen, and something more honest, more awake, and more whole begins to emerge.

That thread is central to my forthcoming book, Step Aside, the Miracle Is Trying to Get Through. I’m also the author of Below the Waterline: The Place of Influential Power.

Background

I hold graduate degrees in Behavioral Science and Organizational Development and Innovation. Across the years, I’ve served in roles that include leader, strategist, advisor, facilitator, teacher, and counsel. What matters most to me now is not the title, but the work itself: helping people and teams grow in clarity, courage, alignment, and depth.

A little more personally

A native of the Bay Area now based in Portland, Oregon, I’ve lived and worked across the U.S., Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. I’m drawn to brave conversations, unanswered questions, athletic activities in mountain air, cultural depth, good food, and people who make me laugh, think, or tell the truth a little sooner than they planned.