Thomas L. Peterson, Associate Teaching Faculty—Entrepreneurship, is a graduate of BYU (BA ‘81) and Harvard Business School (MBA ‘83) and joined the entrepreneurship faculty at BYU in 2008 following 25 years in private industry, where he acquired, advised and owned more than two dozen businesses. In his early career, he was Chief Financial Officer and an owner of Wyndham Hotel properties, where he remained during rapid expansion in what now includes over 7,000 Wyndham properties worldwide.
He presently serves as BYU’s Miller New Venture Challenge Director, mentoring student teams and overseeing certain events culminating in a competition for $180k in startup funding for the ten best new companies originating from students each year. In 2013, the top BYU teams won over $400k in invitational competitions throughout the US, including first place in the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards, landing BYU among the best ranked universities in the nation for entrepreneurship. He enjoys spending hundreds of hours each year advising students and helping nurture their ventures.