Tom Wheeler

For three decades Mr. Wheeler has worked at the forefront of telecommunications policy and business development, experiencing the revolution in telecommunications as both a policy expert and businessman. As an entrepreneur he started or helped start multiple companies offering new cable, wireless and video communications services, both domestically and internationally. As a policy expert he has been intimately engaged in the development of the government’s telecommunications policy at both the legislative and regulatory level.

On the twentieth anniversary of the cable television industry Cablevision magazine selected Tom one of the twenty most influential individuals in the industry’s history. From 1976 to 1984, Tom was associated with the National Cable Television Association (NCTA), where he was president from 1979 to 1984.

After several years as CEO of new technology start-ups, including the first company to offer high sped delivery of data to home computers and the first digital video delivery service, Tom was asked to take over the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association (CTIA). He served as CEO of CTIA from 1992-2004 and was selected to the Wireless Industry Hall of Fame.

Tom wrote Take Command:  Leadership Lessons of the Civil War (Doubleday, 2000) and Mr. Lincoln’s T-Mails: The Untold Story of How Abraham Lincoln Used the Telegraph to Win the Civil War (HarperCollins, 2006). His commentaries on current events have been published in the Washington Post, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, Newsday, and other leading publications.

Presidents Clinton and Bush each appointed Tom a Trustee of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts where he served for 12 years. He is currently Chairman of the Kennedy Center affiliate VSA Arts, an international organization which touches the lives of over five million individuals with disabilities by providing equality of experience and accessibility to the arts.  He is Chairman and President of the Foundation for the National Archives, the non-profit organization dedicated to telling the American Story through its documents. Tom sits on the boards of Core portfolio companies Roundbox, UpdateLogic, Jacked, and Twisted Pair Solutions. In addition, he is on the boards of EarthLink, and Helio. 

Tom is a graduate of Ohio State University and the recipient of its Alumni Medal for national and international career achievement. He resides in Washington, D.C.