Tom Gnuse
Founder
1938-2019
Tom Gnuse had several life principles that reflected his strong character and roots. Among them were: make the most of your opportunities and follow passion in your career. Throughout his life, he stayed true to these principles.
Tom was born in Huntsville, AL in 1938 and spent most of his childhood in Franklin, NC, a small town in the Smoky Mountains. Tom received an undergraduate degree in engineering from Duke University, where he was a member of ROTC, and a Masters in Engineering from UCLA.
He served three years as an officer in the Air Force, stationed at Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton, OH, where he met Jeanne Pflaum, whom he married in 1965. After leaving the Air Force, he earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and began a 25-year career in the emerging computer industry, first as a manager at NCR and later as a venture capitalist.
At age 55, Tom embarked on a new venture, following his passion into academic, research-based investment management, something he had been doing for himself for some time. With their three children off at college, he and Jeanne founded HTG Investment Advisors Inc.
Their goal was to help families achieve their dreams through smarter money management.
For clients, this often meant giving them the flexibility to pursue their passion upon retirement, but for Tom, running the firm and helping clients became his passion — one he enjoyed for more than 25 years, well past typical retirement age.
Tom worked hard to assemble an exceptional, multidisciplinary team at HTG who heartily embrace the mission of providing high-quality financial advice, investment management, and service. He handpicked his successors, Robin Sherwood and Lex Zaharoff, to ensure that the firm would stay independent for years to come. In 2017, he stepped down from day-to-day management of the firm.
Tom believed deeply in giving back to his community. He volunteered often and sat on several local non-profit boards. While Tom had many philanthropic interests, the one dearest to his heart was the Tourette Association of America. Tom was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome in his forties, and he was grateful to be able to support both research and programs through his involvement with this organization.