Tom serves as an officer and trustee of two endowed non-profit enterprises, and sees things from a client perspective. He is a former board chair of an independent school in the Princeton area, and serves as treasurer of the $75 million Fund for New Jersey. More recently, Governor Chris Christie appointed Tom to the New Jersey State Investment Council. The Council formulates policies governing New Jersey's public pension fund assets, currently about $68 billion. Tom joined Lehman Brothers in 1986 as a salesman in the institutional equities area. In early 1987, he published a book on the relationship between stock index futures and the stock market which stated that “the stock market may well eventually crash” and that stock index futures “might accelerate it”. In 1988, he served as a member of the Brady Commission staff that reported to President Reagan on the causes of the 1987 stock market crash. Later that year, working with Lehman’s president and his counterparts at other firms, he played a significant role in designing the trading halt procedures which were implemented by the New York Stock Exchange and the Chicago futures exchanges to limit the potential for a similar crash today. In 1989, Tom began to manage money for Commodities Corporation in Princeton - now a part of Goldman Sachs. In addition to generating double-digit returns in financial futures, he did extensive work on risk management techniques. He soon began to manage money for other private clients. In 1994, after Governor Florio lost his re-election bid, Tom was asked to become Chairman of the Democratic State Committee in New Jersey. He served two successful terms as chairman, during which time the state’s Democratic Party enjoyed a remarkable resurgence. Tom is a graduate of Princeton University and Fordham Law School. He is married to Barbara Moakler Byrne, a vice chairman of Barclay's Capital. They have four children and reside in Princeton. |
