A resident of western Loudoun County since 2001, Tom was named Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy’s Executive Director in June of 2024. His deep love of nature was cultivated as a boy growing up on a small Maryland farm. There, he understood early the powerful, symbiotic connections between all forms of life and the need to maintain balance between facilitating economic growth and protecting the timeless, invaluable benefits of our natural environment.

Professionally, Tom served another Loudoun-based nonprofit — SkillsUSA, a national student organization — for more than 25 years, the last five as the Director of Marketing and Communications. In this role, Tom and the dynamic team he led specialized in the creation of messaging that inspired engagement, increased membership (SkillsUSA set all-time records in 2024) and strengthened the organization’s brand.

Some of the many awards Tom earned during his tenure at SkillsUSA include the Platinum Award for feature writing in the 2021 national dotCOMM awards, two Association Trends All-Media gold awards, two PIVA (Printing Industries of Virginia) Best in Print awards and 14 APEX Awards of Excellence. From 2006-2019, Tom also worked with the Washington Commanders as a part-time video editor and documentarian, earning four regional Emmy awards along the way for pieces he wrote, produced and edited for the team.

Tom holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from Towson State University and a master’s in English from Shippensburg State University. In his free time, he enjoys writing and recording his own music (focusing on guitar), coaching his two sons in Ida Lee’s flag football program, and walking (sometimes napping) with the family dog Lexi and cat-brothers Dougal and Fergus. He’s eager to learn from the expertise of Loudoun Wildlife’s passionate and dedicated staff and volunteers while contributing his own communications and marketing expertise to the ongoing accomplishment of our vital mission.

Contact Tom at tkercheval@loudounwildlife.org.