Like many of us, Tom found his way into heat transfer by accident although his route in was more circuitous than most. He studied Latin and modern languages at school and then went into banking becoming a Member of the Institute of Bankers. He then became involved in petroleum distribution and estimating, and from there into management in the heat transfer industry. En route, he picked up his engineering qualifications the hard way via night school.
Tom is now Director and General Manager of Motherwell Bridge Thermal. He has been with Motherwell Bridge since the mid 60's apart from a brief stay in the Heat Transfer Department of Lummus in the 70's. His first directorship was with Motherwell Bridge Thermal in 1979, then in the early 80's he became Sales Director of the main fabrication company at Motherwell. Two years ago he moved back to Uphall to take over at Thermal.
Tom has been Chairman of the Scottish branch of the Energy Industries Council for ten years and is also a Director of the Scottish Oil Club, a member of the Institute of Petroleum and is actively involved through local enterprise funding in assisting small companies into export markets. This last activity involves helping all types of small companies, "from shortbread to engineering," to get into foreign markets. Tom takes great pleasure in sharing the vast experience, which he has gained the hard way, with small companies who sometimes need to know how to do the simplest of things.
Golf is one of Tom's major interests although he has tended to get out of practice after years of being on the road selling. This dispels the myth that most sales are done on the golf course. His current ambition is to get his handicap back into single figures now that he has more time back at the ranch.
