Tom is an attorney and consultant with the law firm of Sheehan Phinney, where his 25 years of practice have focused on environmental, energy, real estate, and nonprofit governance matters. Tom has also held posts in all three branches of government — Commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services for a decade, law clerk to Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court of NH, and legislative assistant to US Senator Gordon Humphrey (R-NH). Growing up in the White Mountains, he shepherded a flock of sheep as a 4-H’er, hiked, skied, canoed, and absorbed New England humor.
Tom is a big picture, long-term thinker who questions assumptions and seeks efficient, practical solutions. He’s a careful listener, facilitator, problem-solver, coalition builder, and mentor. His passions include advocating for public service, upholding the Constitution and rule of law as the nation’s pillars, supporting community engagement and nonprofit organizations as central to American life, and harmonizing environmental protection, public health, and economic well-being. He has held leadership roles – whether as founder, member, or chair — for numerous local, state, and national nonprofit and governmental entities and committees whose missions included leadership development, birds and wildlife, materials reuse and recycling, greenhouse gas reduction, land and community heritage protection, clean energy, education, outdoor recreation, improving state government operations, process efficiency and improvement, and collaboration among the nation’s state and federal environmental agencies.
At the community level, Tom has served on town committees and his church vestry, coached youth sports teams, and is a member of his local Rotary Club. Residents of central New Hampshire, he and his wife, Emilie, enjoy spreading their love of books and the spoken word. A professional raconteur, Tom has performed as John James Audubon and Daniel Webster, and regaled many an audience with moose calls and tales of the North Country.