After graduating from CU in 1975, Tom went to University of Chicago Grad School of Business where he lasted one term before taking a leave of absence and returning to Colorado to start his first business. That business was The Summit Restaurant, the first of 3 fine dining restaurants that Tom was involved in over 12 years. That same summer he also got his insurance license and by 1980 had started an independent insurance agency, Menk and Associates, Inc. and had finished his MBA going part time back at CU. Tom always figured that insurance was both his profession and his trade and he worked at it extremely hard over the 26 years that he was involved in the business.
Owning an insurance agency provided the flexibility to be involved in other ventures. Tom’s favorite was Premier Sports Group/ Boulder Apparel Corp with Kappa Sig roommate Larry Crabb (also Gamma Tau spring ‘72) from 1985 until they sold the company in 1997. It was a successful apparel importing and distribution business, and for 13 years Tom and Larry operated on a one page agreement between the two of them. In August of 2001 Tom also sold the insurance agency to Brown and Brown Insurance, a NYSE company, and the 4th largest in the US and then took a sabbatical from insurance in January of 2004.
Tom continues to have ownership in several small companies that he helped found, and sits on their management boards including Creekside Nursery, LLC, Cablenet Wiring Products, Inc., Crosby Creek Ranch LLC, Omni International, LLC, and Peak Wheelchairs and Mobility, Inc.
Tom has been married to the love of his life, Lori, for almost 18 years and have two sons, Matthew (13) and Alex (11) who are Tom’s skiing, tennis, etc, buddies.
Tom have been active on the Boulder Kappa Sigma Building Assoc. board for over 24 years and served as President or Treasurer for about ten of those. He is currently volunteering in Boy Scouts and he is the President of a charitable foundation that last year raised over $200,000 for hospice on the west side of the Denver Metro area.