Thomas Walek

Thomas Walek is Founder and President of Walek & Associates.

 

Tom directs strategy and programming for the firm's clients, working closely with senior executives to develop creative, business-driven communications strategies that achieve bottom line results. He brings market knowledge, experience and insight to help clients articulate core messages, manage brands, build visibility, prepare spokespersons, launch new products, and prepare for and manage crisis.

Tom is highly focused on providing a remarkable level of client service and works to assure that his associates embody that commitment. 

Tom began his career as a financial journalist covering the global expansion of capital markets from the trading floors of the Chicago futures exchanges. For the last 25 years, Tom has worked in financial, corporate and technology public relations, investor relations and research. He founded Walek & Associates in 1998.

Throughout his career, Tom has distinguished himself by working with small and start-up companies as well as many of the world's leading organizations including: AIG, American Stock Exchange, Barclays Capital, Bear Wagner, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Citicorp, Dow Jones, IBM, J & W Seligman, JPMorgan, Knight-Ridder, Man Investments, Mellon, NeubergerBerman, New York Life, Nuveen Investments, STOXX, The Reserve, Union Bancaire Privée, Paulson & Company,Trout Unlimited and Westinghouse.

 

Tom is a member of the National Press Club and the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI). He served on the marketing and PR Committee of the Alternative Investment Management Association and chaired the sub-committee that produced the "AIMA guide to Media Relations for The Hedge Fund Industry". He has been a featured speaker in the US and abroad for Euromoney, Futures Industry Association; MAR Hedge, Institute for International Research, Financial Research Associates, Infovest 21, AIMA Hong Kong, Compliance Asia, Marcus Events and the University of Colorado Graduate School of Integrated Marketing Communications.

Tom received the "Best Communications" award for his work with the New York Chapter of NIRI and the "Conservation Award in Communications" from Trout Unlimited.

An avid fly fisherman, Tom's writings have appeared in Fly Fisherman magazine, Trout magazine and The Angling Report. A native of Pennsylvania, he studied at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, Chicago; holds a BA cum laude in Journalism from the University of Colorado, Boulder; and studied as an undergraduate at the University of Lancaster, UK.