Tom is a product of Eastern Washington where he was raised along side of his 15 siblings. He spent his early career in apple orcharding. With his brothers he managed 225 acres of apples in Idaho and Washington before returning to Pullman to get his accounting degree. After a brief career as an auditor with Arthur Anderson, Tom and a friend started a company in the fledgling PC Accessory market making keyboard templates for Word Perfect, MS Word and most other software.

Looking to be on his own Tom bought Seattle Electric in 1988 and VECA Electric in 1989 and has never looked back. His dedication to the industry is evident in his service to the Puget Sound Chapter of NECA (National Electrical Contractors Association) where he served on the board for over 10 years having been honored to serve as Chapter President and Governor.