Prior to his formal forestry education, he worked for many years on family-owned land. This work instilled both a land ethic and practical economic experience that has since benefited both him and his clients. Intense forestry ethics and goals were ingrained in him in the years prior to his formal college education. His role as a forester makes him acutely aware of the concerns of private landowners. Once the landowner's goals are determined, he strives to achieve those goals and manages the tract as his clients dictate.

Tom was employed as a forester's assistant through high school, in college was an employee of and subsequently a full partner with a forestry consulting firm in Northwestern Pennsylvania, and is now self-employed and practicing in Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio, and Northern West Virginia.

While at Penn State, he assisted Penn State with the implementation of the Municipal Tree Restoration Project (MTRP) in Pennsylvania, and helped write the first municipal management plans used for over sixty communities throughout Pennsylvania. This proves invaluable to landholders with interests in and around developed areas where conflicts with overhead power lines, structures, and infrastructures are possible. Also, Tom has been called as an expert witness in timber trespass cases in many counties across the state of Pennsylvania. Providing such expert testimony has helped landowners recoup losses in timber theft and trespass cases.