About our Keynote Speaker:
Dr. Command Sgt. Major (Ret.) Tom Clark
President/CEO of the Alliance for Fort Gordon

Doctor/Command Sergeant Major (retired) Tom Clark was born in Danville, Pennsylvania, graduating from Columbia Montour Vocational-Technical School in 1980 and enlisted in the Army Signal Corps that same year.  He served over 32 years in the Army, culminating his service as the Army’s Signal Regimental Command Sergeant Major, U.S. Army Signal Center and Fort Gordon in Augusta, Georgia.  He retired from active duty in March of 2011. He spent five years serving as a Training and Capture Manager for General Dynamics (GD) Mission Systems on Fort Gordon in Augusta, Georgia. He is currently the President/CEO of the Alliance for Fort Gordon.

While in the Army, he held a variety of leadership positions in tactical signal units in Korea, Germany, Iraq and the United States. He deployed multiple times - leading soldiers in combat in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom as the command sergeant major of the 440th Signal Battalion in 2004 and again in 2006 as the Signal Task Force Command Sergeant Major for the country of Iraq while assigned to the 22nd Signal Brigade. Some of his awards include the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, two Bronze Stars, the air assault and combat action badge. He is an Audie Murphy Club and Sergeant Morales Club inductee.

In addition to his extensive military education, he holds undergraduate degrees from Central Texas College and Excelsior College. Tom also has a master’s degree in post-secondary adult education from Troy University and a doctorate in Management in Organizational Leadership from Phoenix University. Tom is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).

He is a very active volunteer in the community. He is a 2013 Distinguished Member of the Signal Regiment inductee. He is an active member and serves on the board of directors of the Greater Augusta Fort Gordon Chapter of the Association of the United States Army (AUSA). He was the 2015 General Dynamics Outstanding Volunteer of the year awardee. He is a congressional appointee to the board of directors of the SRSCRO. He is a 2017 graduate of Leadership Augusta and a 2018 graduate of Leadership Columbia County. He is the recipient of the 2018 Columbia County Lifetime Achievement Award. He was named as one of Georgia Trend’s and James Magazine’s 100 most Influential/notable Georgians in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. He serves as a commissioner on the Georgia Joint Defense Commission. He is a 2023 recipient of the Outstanding Georgia Citizen Award (this award serves as the highest honor given on the state level to any citizen).

He resides in Evans, Georgia with his wife Kandee. They have four children, four grandsons, and two granddaughters.