With the Nittany Lion in 1986, Tom Day, '88, stands by his Alma Mater
Over a career highlighted by success in business ventures, active involvement in advancing the causes of community non-profits, and raising a family with his college sweetheart, Tom Day will bring a comprehensive perspective, a decisive manner, and a compassionate heart to the Penn State Board of Trustees.
As CEO of West Point Products, a U.S. based manufacturer and distributor of consumable supplies for the printing and imaging industry, Tom led a small group of investors and acquired the company in December 1998, and has been running the company for the past 13 years. Under his leadership the company has grown over tenfold in size and currently employs 550 people.
Tom's daughter Nicole
When Tom started at West Point Products, one of the key strengths of the company was a strong “family” culture among its employees. Tom is especially proud of the fact that as the company rapidly grew from a small, local firm into a much larger international business, the “family” culture has remained. Many of those long standing employees are still with the company today, with many of them having over 20 years or more of service.
Tom earned his B.S. in Accounting in 1988 from The Pennsylvania State University. He began his professional career in public accounting with Coopers & Lybrand in Pittsburgh, PA working in the financial audit department specializing in manufacturing clients. He joined Washington Steel Corporation in December of 1991 and held various management positions in finance, budgeting & planning, operations analysis, and production control. He joined North American Refractories Company in July of 1997 where he served as Financial Controller.
Tom & his son Tommy relaxing after the cub scout pinewood derby
In 2000, Tom was elected to the Board of Directors of the Ohio Valley Industrial and Business Development Corporation, a non-profit organization, where he served for 3 years. In 2006 he was elected to the Board of Directors of the International Imaging Technology Council, a non-profit trade association for the imaging supplies industry, and in 2010 he was elected to serve on its Executive Committee, a position he holds today. In 2011 he was appointed to serve on the Advisory Board of Geo Spatial Innovations, Inc., a software and professional consulting services firm.
Since graduation, Tom and Michelle have returned to Happy Valley several times annually for different events. The “Day family” of Penn Staters travel from all over the country to gather for a family reunion at least once each season for a Football weekend of tailgating, shopping, and catching up with each others’ lives. Additionally, Tom & Michelle return each summer for an annual reunion with their college friends for a three-day golf outing and social gathering, an event that has been going strong now for over twenty years. These events always end up being nostalgic “trips to the past” to relive the fun of their college years.
Penn State tailgating!
Tom and his wife Michelle ’89 reside in Washington, PA, and are Lifetime members of the Alumni Association, becoming Sustaining Life Members in 2011. Their daughter Nicole is a freshman at Penn State, and their son Tommy will follow in the fall of 2012. Tom is part of a long lineage of Penn Staters. His uncle Richard G. Day ’62 is affectionately known as the Day family “patriarch” of PSU alumni, and now after 50 years he is a “pioneer” alumnus. His uncle inspired 9 family members to follow in his footsteps, including three children (Tom’s cousins), one nephew (Tom), two nieces (Tom’s two sisters), one grandchild currently attending PSU (Tom’s second-cousin), and Tom’s two children noted previously.