Upon graduation from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1990, Tom practiced law for several years in Omaha, with an emphasis in the areas of tax, business, corporate, estate planning, probate, and litigation. He also worked in these areas for several years in the financial services industry and as a general counsel with a franchise sales and development company, and he has more than a decade of experience in residential real estate management. Prior to attending law school, Tom worked as a Legislative Assistant during the period 1984 through 1987 in the Washington, D.C. office of Nebraska U.S. Rep. Hal Daub.
In 2011 Governor Dave Heineman appointed Tom to represent Nebraska’s Second Congressional District as a full-time Commissioner on Nebraska’s Tax Equalization & Review Commission (TERC). The TERC, which consists of a Governor-appointed Commissioner from each of Nebraska’s three federal Congressional Districts, hears appeals from decisions of county boards throughout Nebraska regarding taxation, valuation, and assessment of real and personal property, and also has responsibility for the annual statewide equalization of assessed value of all real property. As a TERC Commissioner, Tom presided over hundreds of appeals filed by commercial and agricultural taxpayers regarding taxation and valuation matters, and he authored majority or dissenting opinions relating to these appeals. Tom served as a TERC Commissioner through 2015, whereupon he resumed his private law practice.
Since 2004, Tom has served on the Board of Directors of Nelnet Education Loan Funding, Inc., a subsidiary of Nelnet, Inc. – Nelnet, based in Lincoln, is engaged in business in the education, technology, and telecommunications industries throughout the United States and several foreign countries. From 2006 through the effective date of his appointment to the TERC in 2011, he represented the legal profession on the Nebraska State Records Board.
In addition to his law degree, Tom is a 1980 graduate of Milford, Nebraska High School, and he received a B.A. degree from Creighton University in 1984.
