Tom joined the Gazette in 1990 after serving as a sports reporter for The Record in Troy and then managing editor for The Capital District Business Review. In addition to editing stories for The Gazette's features department, Tom designs Life & Arts covers as well as the paper's Environment and Science pages. Tom graduated from Mechanicville High School in 1981 and earned a bachelor's degree in English at Siena College in 1985. He attended St. Bonaventure University for a year before transferring to Siena.