Our Director

Tom has over 30 years of experience in leadership, music, media, creativity, innovation, technology and entrepreneurship. 

Tom received a PhD and MFA from Princeton University, the Presidential MBA in Leadership from Pepperdine University and BMus from the University of British Columbia.

In 1990, he co-founded tomandandy, which he built into one of the largest music production companies in the world. As CEO, he helped reshape the role of music and media worldwide by introducing a new process that lowered music production costs to a fraction of previous levels, while improving creative quality. 

By appropriating the aesthetics of the avant garde and melding together music and sound design, he blurred the line between music and sound. Coupling this with new ways of using music software, redefined the way in which music and media work together. This was initially through MTV, which then influenced most contexts where music and media are found today. As a result, tomandandy has collaborated on creative industries projects generating over $1billion USD to economies around the world (participation in the Resident Evil franchise grossed over $500million USD alone worldwide, for example).

He's collaborated with some of the most influential artists in the world, including Oliver Stone, U2, Laurie Anderson, William Burroughs, David Byrne, Lou Reed, Alan Ginsberg, Jenny Holzer and Tom Sachs. He has worked with the top TV studios (NBC, CBS, PBS, American Broadcasting Corporation, Canal Plus, VIACOM) worldwide. He has worked with best of breed advertising agencies (Saatchi, WPP, Weiden&Kennedy, Grey and Dentsu) around the world to help shape the identities of many of the top global companies in most categories – from cars (Mercedes, Ford, Toyota) to beverages (Coke, Pepsi), computer and technology (Apple, Microsoft, Intel) to running shoes (Nike, Adidas, Reebok). He has worked with the best film studios in the world (Sony, Universal) and his music has helped build Hollywood franchises, like Resident Evil, The Hills Have Eyes and 47 Meters Down.  

His work has been reviewed in publications throughout the world (NY Times, Interview Magazine, Details, Hollywood Reporter, LA Times) and Blake Fichera’s book “Scored to Death: Conversations with Some of Horror's Greatest Composers” devoted a chapter to Tom's work.

Tom is also CEO of Disrupter, a strategic innovation company. The company has an IP portfolio in deep and strategic technologies, from mobile (digital way finding) and networking (messaging, protocols) to machine learning (AI and music creation).

Tom was South Australia's first and only Chief Innovator. He was responsible for the Gigcity Initiative and brought the South Australian Government to the White House in 2016, which recognised Adelaide as the first gig city outside of the United States, to join the US Ignite Smart City Initiative as a result.

Tom has sat on many award juries, including the Australia Council for the Arts and the Canada Council for the Arts. He is currently a member of the Digital Advisory Group for the Australia Council for the Arts.

He has spoken, chaired or given keynotes at the original TED Conference, CalTech/MIT Forum, Pepperdine University's first Disruption Conference, DisruptSydney, as well as several universities worldwide about content, technology and strategic innovation. He is also a member of Sydney University’s Digital Disruption Research Group.

Recently Tom launched a new initiative intersecting Art and Artificial Intelligence launching AI artistic research initiatives including Laurie Anderson as the first AI artist-in-residence called the Art Intelligence Agency. The work with Laurie Anderson has been featured as part of her Norton Lectures at Harvard University and at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC.

The South Australian Government supports the University of Adelaide to create the Open Music Initiative's first node outside the US. The project is led by Tom and Associate Professor Nick Falkner (ECMS). The mission of the Open Music Initiative is to promote and support the creation of open-source standards and innovation related to music to help assure proper compensation for all creators, performers, and rights holders of music. 

Tom is a mentor for the Founder Institute, Fleurieu Future Leaders, and a judge for InnovationAus regularly.