Tom is Director of Graduate Studies for the University of Minnesota’s Masters of Professional Studies in Arts & Cultural Leadership where he leads students through their Capstone completion and teaches Culture, Place & Community.

He recently developed an online PhD course in creative placemaking for the Univ. of Kentucky. An international consultant, speaker, and lecturer addressing cultural planning, cultural districts, and creative community engagement in city planning and design, he is a long-time leader in creative community building – leveraging cultural and other assets to advance economic, social, civic, and physical regeneration of place-based communities. As founder and Principal of Creative Community Builders, he has consulted with cities, foundations, and nonprofits in over 25 U.S. states and cities in Europe, Asia, and So. America to develop synergy between arts, economic development, community planning, and design.

His 2006 book The Creative Community Builders’ Handbook, remains a leading text in the field. The book profiles communities that have transformed their economic, social, and physical infrastructures through the arts. He is under contract with Routledge for a book on the power of culture in planning.
Tom served as Executive Director of Intermedia Arts in Minneapolis from 1980 until 2002, where he helped build a diverse urban neighborhood while building a nationally recognized multidisciplinary, cross-cultural organization.

Tom earned a Ph.D. in Leadership and Change at Antioch University with an MA in Communications and Public Policy and BA in Liberal Arts from Goddard College. He was a 2001-2002 Fellow in the Knight Program in Community Building at the University of Miami School of Architecture.