Leadership & Empowering People:
The Strategic Bridge

With over 15 years of experience leading cross-functional teams at industry giants like Wayfair, CVS Health, and Appfire, Tom is a trusted team builder and enterprise strategist with a relentless reputation for getting results.

He is the strategic partner you need to:

  • Leading teams to deliver AI- integrated, customer-centric products that define market leadership.

  • Building ResearchOps functions and strategic frameworks that translate insights into actionable product and business strategy.

  • Scaling design systems, streamlining processes, and fostering high-performing environments that accelerate digital transformation.

What Defines My Leadership?

Leadership, for me, is about creating the conditions for sustained innovation and measurable impact. It’s the ability to guide and inspire individuals and teams towards a common, ambitious goal, ensuring that every step contributes to a larger, cohesive vision. This involves:

People-First Empowerment

Effective leadership understands that success is directly tied to the success of the team. I strive to create positive work environments where individuals feel valued, motivated, and empowered to do their best work. This requires strong communication, trust-building, and a deep understanding of individual and team needs, fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, and growth.

Holistic Strategic Vision

Design, research, and technology leadership demands a holistic view of the organization, business requirements, and technical constraints. I drive towards a clear north star vision that everyone can rally around, forging strong collaborative partnerships with business stakeholders, product management, marketing, and engineering. This ensures we build sustainable platforms and scale at the pace of digital transformation.

Incremental Value Delivery

Leadership understands the critical balance between long-term strategy and tactical execution. I am responsible for directing multiple teams throughout the organization to make coordinated, incremental progress, demonstrating tangible value that consistently contributes to our larger vision.

Measured Impact & Accountability

It is not enough for design, research, and technology to improve the user experience or align applications to a set of standards. The impact of improvements must be rigorously measured and demonstrate a tangible increase in performance and value. For this reason, I align team priorities with clear objectives and key results (OKRs), unifying design, business, product, and engineering around a single, measurable mission.

“[Tom] consistently created a holistic view of the business for anyone to see the bigger picture, which allowed leaders under him like myself, to make a large impact. Because of his style of leadership and ability to bring the right people together to solve complex problems, I would work for him again any day.”

Elijah Fischer
VP, Product Design, Workwave

My 7 Leadership Principles

These principles guide my approach to building and leading high-performing teams:

  1. Believe in the value and impact of your leadership:

    Understand your unique contribution and lead with conviction.

  2. Lead with respect and compassion:

    Foster an environment where every voice is heard and valued.

  3. Communicate clear expectations and make sound and timely decisions:

    Provide clarity and direction, even in ambiguity.

  4. Listen to understand and to gauge what help or adjustment may be needed:

    Be present and responsive to team needs.

  5. Take and give ownership:

    Own your decisions and mistakes, and empower your team to own their work.

  6. Support your team, partners, and leaders to succeed and achieve their goals:

    Champion collective success.

  7. Model growth and a thirst for learning:

    Continuously evolve and inspire others to do the same.