Tom Adams (entrepreneur)
Tom P.H. Adams (born 1972) is a Swedish-American technology executive. As of October 2014 he is the President and Founder of Workaround, a tech incubator based in Arlington, Virginia; Co-Founder and Chairman of Pedago, an educational technology company; and Founder and Chairman of the Board of Bizy, a business management solutions company. Before Workaround, Adams was on the management committee of the hedge fund Bridgewater Associates and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Rosetta Stone, a language learning technology company.
Adams has won numerous awards for business and entrepreneurship during his career, notably the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, 2009.
Early Life and Education
Adams grew up in Sweden and France before moving to England at the age of 10 with his parents. He learned both French and English through language immersion, which inspired an early passion for language learning and cross-culture communication. He holds a B.A. with honors from the University of Bristol, United Kingdom and an M.B.A. from INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France.
Career
In his twenties, Adams worked as a commodities trader of copper at Trafigura, which brought him to live in Mongolia for six years, and to travel to the Philippines, China, Slovakia and D.R. Congo. He also lived in Switzerland and China before moving to the United States in 2003, when he started collaboration with the founders of Rosetta Stone, then a small family company based in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
After graduating from business school, Adams met the leaders of Rosetta Stone (then Fairfield & Sons Ltd.) and in February 2003 began his almost nine year tenure as Chief Executive Officer of the company. He brought the company public in 2009, after just six years as leading executive, and left the company for Bridgewater Associates in 2013.
Honors
- Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, 2009
- Executive of the Year by American Business Awards, 2009
- Smart CEO of the Year, 2009
Personal life
Adams currently resides in Washington, D.C.