Tom is a Freelance Knowledge Transfer Expert with extensive experience in innovation, entrepreneurship, and enterprise development.
Previously, Tom was the Director for Enterprise and Commercialisation at University College Dublin, where he led innovation initiatives at NovaUCD, Ireland’s premier incubator/accelerator. Under his leadership, NovaUCD supported over 450 companies—including Ireland’s sixth Unicorn, Wayflyer—helping them secure over €1.2 billion in investment. Over the last five years of his tenure, the number of spin-outs doubled, and seed investment in them tripled.
Tom serves on the Advisory Boards of two Atlantic Bridge University Venture Funds. He has held board positions with the Dublin Local Enterprise Office and several high-tech companies, including DecaWave, acquired for over €360 million. Earlier in his career, he set up the first Knowledge Transfer Office (KTO) and Innovation Centre at Technical University Dublin and established the Dublin Region Innovation Consortium, providing KTO services to five institutes. He was also seconded to Knowledge Transfer Ireland to lead a review of the National IP Protocol.
Tom began his career as an engineer, securing several patents—one of which he championed to worldwide deployment. He later rose through the ranks of corporate America to lead a €100 million/year telecommunications consultancy and systems integration business for Nortel as Vice President for Canada and Central US.
He holds an MSc from Aston University and an MBA from Northwestern University in Chicago.