Tom Williams, Russ Simons and Mike Wooley co-founded Venue Solutions Group in 2011. Tom brings 25 years of progressive experience in the public assembly facility industry, including positions within multiple facility types as well as consulting roles.

Tom has performed virtually every task required of a venue—from mopping floors to tearing tickets to overseeing an operations department to managing his 14,000-seat sports and entertainment arena—there is not a facility job that he does not understand. With VSG, Tom oversees the firm’s administration (accounting, legal, insurance, marketing) and provides project management in the areas of guest experience benchmarking, facility condition assessments, and facility operations reviews and analysis.

Prior to VSG, Tom was a facility operations consultant for global design firm Populous. In that role, he managed guest experience benchmarking programs, consulted on pre- and grand openings, and worked with the firm’s designers and architects to help ensure functional and efficient plans. Before Populous, he was General Manager of CenturyLink Center, a 14,000-seat sports and entertainment arena in Louisiana. Initially employed as the first Director of Operations, Tom oversaw the preopening, grand opening, and ongoing efforts of the Operations Department before progressing to Assistant General Manager and finally General Manager. Tom’s experience also includes event and operations work at the Palm Springs Convention Center and startup of Bridgestone Arena, home of the Nashville Predators.

A LEED Accredited Professional, Tom holds a master’s degree in business administration from Centenary College of Louisiana and a bachelor’s degree in sports management from Tulane University. He is a member of the International Association of Venue Managers (IAVM), where he is a past-chair of the organization’s Sustainability Committee.