Thomas was educated as a psychologist at Yale, and after a career in that field he transitioned to business, where he secured a number of successful exits in Silicon Valley.
Along the way, he participated in both buy-side and sell-side M&A, and held the roles of investor, operator, board director and advisor.
He blended these business experiences and his skills as a psychologist into a unique advisory platform.
Today, Ad Altius Advisors helps businesses navigate inflection points, those moments of significant change, such as:
- Shifts in board composition
- Actions by activist investors
- Dramatic market swings
- Succession
- Significant pivot
- Acquisition
- Death of a key figure
- The emergence of internal conflict
The firm works with businesses to optimize the collaborative configuration during these moments of transition, helping principals derive personal meaning and robust financial outcomes.
Additionally, Ad Altius provides M&A support, making full use of Thomas’s competencies as a psychologist. The majority of mergers, acquisitions and similar transactions fail to produce intended results, and this is because the majority of transaction strategies focus on what happens after the deal closes.
This is backwards, because the principal determinant of unsatisfactory M&A outcomes is poor alignment of objectives at the outset. The alignment of interests before a deal happens is what makes for a successful transaction. For Ad Altius, the focus is on the transformation, not the transaction.
The firm ensures success by drawing out the conscious and unconscious motivators of both buyer and seller.
By bringing these motivations into the light, Ad Altius enables alignment of the deep motivations of both buyer and seller, creating a space of possibilities wherein not only a deal can happen, but both buyer and seller can secure rich and transformative outcomes.