Tom was born and grew up mainly in Virginia; he did live in Florida for a couple of years during childhood. Tom has several college degrees, all from VA schools. His bachelor's degree is from Virginia Tech. He is married to Carol, his first and only wife, and they have four children: two daughters and two sons, and one grandson. Tom and Carol live on St. Simons. He worked for Fortune 100 corporations like McCormick & Company and Sara Lee Corporation, prior to being Sr VP for King & Prince Seafood here locally for eight years. After about 25 years in the food industy, he left the industry soon after the sale of King & Prince Seafood, and now sells commercial/industrial real estate part-time for Parker-Kaufman Realtors. He is involved in many local community organizations including being past chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, former Board member of the Communities of Coastal Georgia Foundation, Live Oak Society member of the Land Trust, and Sr Warde of St. mark's Episcopal Church in downtown Brunswick. He has been visiting the Golden Isles area since the 1970s and has worked and lived here since 1999. He began his four-year term as a Glynn County Commissioner in January 2009, and was elected Chairman in January of this year.