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Tom serves as treasurer and chief investment officer of the University of Missouri System. In his current role, he provides operating leadership and strategic direction for the university’s cash management, debt and banking relationships across all four campuses and the healthcare system. In addition, Tom manages investment portfolios in excess of $6 billion, including the university’s retirement, endowment and general operating funds.

Tom served as interim vice president of finance from July 2013 to August 2014. Prior to his appointment as treasurer by the Board of Curators in January 2011, he was responsible for the university’s financial reporting and taxation matters as well as all accounting for the treasury function.

Tom received the 2013 Rising Star Award from the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO). The award is given to up-and-coming leaders in higher education in the areas of finance, administration and business who are known for their innovative, meaningful contributions to the improvement of their profession and to the efficiency of their institution.

With over 20 years of experience in the financial sector, Tom served as chief financial officer of a $2 billion community banking organization headquartered in Columbia, Missouri. He also was an audit manager in the financial services practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers in Indianapolis.

Tom earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and is a certified public accountant. He serves as a volunteer member of the Board Finance Committee of Columbia Public Schools and as treasurer of the Northwest Rotary Foundation. He served 10 years as a board trustee for the Columbia Public Library and Daniel Boone Regional Library.

His wife, Melissa Lawson, M.D., is an associate professor of child health in the School of Medicine, specializing in adolescent medicine, at the University of Missouri-Columbia. They have two children, Laura and Jack.