Tom Mathews, a former Senior Vice President, HR and CHRO at Cree, Inc., helped take the company and its HR department through a major phase of growth. He joined the Durham, NC, based company in 2015, rebuilding its lighting business and assisting in hiring its current CEO.
Prior to his role at Cree, Tom was head of HR for New York City-based Asset International, a private equity-owned business, where he helped the management team sell the company to Genstar Capital.
In January 2002, Tom joined Time Warner Cable as EVP of HR. He spent 12 years building a world-class HR department and served as a strategic partner at the executive level to evaluate the human resource implications of all major business decisions that affected 50,000+ employees. He also identified HR programs, services, and initiatives that aligned with business growth needs.
From 1999 to 2001, Tom was Vice President of International Human Resources at AOL where he was responsible for developing and implementing AOL’s human resource strategy for its international workforce.
Tom has a M.S. in Organization Development from Queens University in Charlotte, an MBA from the University of Michigan, and a B.S. in Economics & Psychology from Trinity College. He is active in a variety of professional associations and nonprofit organizations and is an executive committee member of the SHRM Foundation and an advisory board member of UNC-Charlotte’s Belk School of Business.