Thomas C. Nelson is chairman, president and CEO of the National Gypsum Company, a large, privately held building products manufacturer with vertically integrated operations across the U.S. and Canada. He joined the Bechtel Group, Inc. Board of Directors in January 2020.
Tom assumed his current role at National Gypsum in 1999. From 1995 to 1999, he was vice chairman and chief financial officer.
Before joining National Gypsum, Tom worked for Morgan Stanley & Co. and in the venture capital industry. In 1992, he was one of 15 people selected nationwide as a White House Fellow, where he served as Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for special projects and received the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service.
Tom is a member of The Business Council, The Business Roundtable, and The Council on Foreign Relations. He is a member of the Board of Dean’s Advisors at Harvard Business School and a past-chair of the Policy Advisory Board at the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University. In addition, he is a director of Advocate Health (past Chair) and Yum! Brands, Inc. He served as a director on the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond from 2014-2020.
Tom holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Stanford and an MBA from Harvard Business School.