Tom began his career as a professional wildlife biologist in 1984 working on bears, mountain goats and caribou for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

In 1992 he accepted management of a long-term snow leopard research project in Mongolia in collaboration with Dr. George Schaller. The 6-year study was the basis for his Ph.D. (University of Massachusetts-Amherst) and he became the first to use satellite radio-collars on the cats. In addition to snow leopards he conducted studies of wild camels and Gobi brown bears, two of Mongolia’s rarest animals.

After a short stint in the Caribbean helping the island nation of Anguilla develop a protected area system, Tom became the Science and Conservation Director of the Snow Leopard Trust in 2000 and now manages their extensive science and conservation programs across much of snow leopard range in Asia. Tom works with the Trust’s team of 30+ professional scientists and conservationists to conduct research and community-based conservation in Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, and Pakistan.

In addition to his role with the Snow Leopard Trust, Tom also serve as serves as Executive Director of the Snow Leopard Network, a global consortium of professionals involved in snow leopard research and conservation, and he serves on the Board of Directors of the Society for Conservation Biology – Asia Section. Highlights of his recent work include development of genetic methods for monitoring wild snow leopard populations, and the initiation of a new snow leopard collaring program in Pakistan (2006) using state-of-the-art satellite GPS collars.