Tom Bell - Politician, Businessman, Civic Leader

Who would have predicted that Tom Bell (Kappa Tau 1972) would aspire to such great heights while hanging out at the Phi Gamma Delta house in the early 1970s.  But Tom was already well on his way before leaving UT.  A couple of his first jobs was working for senators Howard Baker and Bill Brock.  He went on to work for Richard Nixon’s reelection campaign, Lamar Alexander’s successful Tennessee gubernatorial bid, Dan Quayle’s first run for the Senate, and Ronald Reagan’s challenge of President Gerald Ford for the presidential nomination in 1976.

From there, Tom’s career trajectory veered into the business world. He was executive vice president of Ball Corp. in Muncie, Indiana, for two years, then returned to Washington to work for marketing giant Young & Rubicam Inc., eventually becoming CEO of the public affairs unit, Burson-Marsteller. He left for Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. but was lured back to Young & Rubicam by Peter Georgescu, whom he succeeded as CEO of the international firm.

Eventually, Tom was asked to be the CEO of Cousins Properties in Atlanta.  In 2009, he stepped down from Cousins and became an investor and chairman of SecurAmerica, a national commercial security firm. He is also is chairman of Goddard Investment Group, a real estate partnership.  In June of 2010, Tom was elected as the chairman of board of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. 


Tom lives in Atlanta.