Austin, Texas, United States
I am excited to be joining VLK Architects as a Principal in the Austin, Tx office. VLK provides me the opportunity to continue to work with K12 educational clients across Texas with a targeted focus on Central Texas. Being the son of lifelong educators, VLK allows me to stay true to my passion of making a difference in the lives of both teachers and the students they teach, by creating state of the art, world class learning environments. Prior to joining VLK, I have worked with SHW Group Architects / Stantec Architecture in numerous capacities from Project Management, Director of Operations, K12 Practice Director, and Practice Leader. As Practice Leader at Stantec I was responsible for overseeing our K12, Higher Education, Commercial, Workplace, and Multi-Family sectors across our four Texas offices. I also served on the SHW Group Board of Directors for 10 years guiding firm direction and strategy. Specialties: Architecture, Planning, Facilites Assessments, Programming, Long Range Planning with a specialization in K -12 Education and Higher Education.
Tom is working as a Principal in the Austin Texas office of VLK Architects helping to perform business development and client management. His work benefits from his 25 years of experience in Central Texas where he led the development of SHW Groups Architectural practice from 1998 until SHW merged with Stantec in 2014. During this time Tom grew the office from a small two person Startup practice to nearly 60 persons. During this time, Tom also served on the SHW Group board of directors where he served for 10 years. After Joining Stantec in 2014 Tom became the Texas K12 practice leader over Stantecs four Texas offices. He also served as Vice President responsible for overseeing several sector lines including K12, Higher Education, Workplace, Commercial, Multi-Family, and Hospitality.
Tom currently serves Stantec as a Vice President and Sector Leader of the Education Group in Texas. Tom was formerly a partner with SHW Group, where he served as Studio Leader, Director of Operations, Director of Business Development, and served on the Board of Directors for 10 years. Tom was instrumental in the growth of SHW across Central and South Texas, where he opened offices for the firm in Austin in 1998, and San Antonio in 2005. Tom is dedicated to creating learning environments that make a difference in the lives of both the teachers and the students they serve. His background in Educational Design has allowed him to be a respected industry leader often speaking and presenting on educational design and the built environment.