Alumni Spotlight – Tom Clark ‘72

Tom Clark spent his entire business career in the fastest of the fast lanes in the New York City and global financial markets, but the first thing one learns in a conversation with him about his life is that he never really left Southern York County. His advice: “Never forget where you came from. No matter how much success you have in life, your family and friends always come first.”

When Tom was a student at Susquehannock, he was captain of the basketball team and also the baseball team, where he pitched and played the outfield. He excelled academically, was a consistent honor roll student, a member of the National Honor Society, and was named “outstanding senior.” He also served as the business manager of the Calumet. When not active in SHS activities or studying, Tom worked in the landmark family business, The Windy Hill Farm Dairy Bar in Shrewsbury.

After graduation in 1972, Tom went to Virginia Tech where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Finance. While a Hokie, he played baseball, was a class president, was his fraternity’s National Man of the Year, an honor student, graduation speaker, active in all phases of student government, and represented the University as a student lobbyist to the Virginia state legislature. And he does not hesitate to credit his collegiate success to the work ethic, self-discipline, and value system he learned growing up in a small community.

After graduation from college in 1976, he went to work in “The Big Apple” on the corporate staff of American Express for two years, leaving in 1978 to earn an MBA at Harvard Business School. Upon earning his Master’s Degree, he joined Morgan Stanley where he worked for 21 years, become a partner and managing director of the equity division responsible for, among other things, the firm’s global equity derivatives department, a $2 billion per year business with over 1,500 employees. Tom led Morgan Stanley to status as the world’s leading provider of these specialized services.

In 2001, he began another adventure as a self-employed venture capitalist. His successful businesses include a bank, a commercial finance company, an asset management company, a construction company, a motel, and a car dealership. His real pride, however, is his thoroughbred breeding operation in California, recently recognized as the number one farm of its kind in the Golden State.

And in his “spare time,” he enjoys coaching girls and boys basketball and is active in AAU, with his teams often competing at the national level.

Tom and his wife Nancy live in New York State and are the proud parents of four children: Caitlin who is a student at Marquette University, Meghan, a student at Wake Forest, and two sons, Andrew and Michael, in high school. He maintains roots in the area through his businesses and his sister Susie ’75, who married Greg Bowser ‘77, another Warrior.

And with all this success, he sums up his life to date (with much more to come) simply as follows: “I worked hard. I have a great family. I have been very fortunate.”

Congratulations, Tom, on your many contributions to your country, your school, and your community, and for making us all “Warrior Proud.”