TOM LOW
PARTNER
Tom graduated from the University of California, Davis with a B.S. degree and the University of California, Irvine with an MBA in Finance. At UCI, Tom won the Arthur Andersen & Co. Entrepreneur of the Year award for creating the school’s offering of Graduate School of Management logo merchandise. After business school, Tom joined the W.R. Grace Restaurant Group, which operated over 800 restaurants and generated revenues in excess of $1 billion. In 1986, he joined start-up Home Express, a US Venture Partners backed specialty retailer based in Hayward. At Home Express, he experienced start-up, high growth, Chapter 11 reorganization and filing for an IPO during his nine years with the company. Tom served in various capacities with Home Express, including, Director of Finance and Corporate Controller.
In 1995, Tom became the founding CFO of Restoration Hardware. At that time, Restoration Hardware was a $4 million retailer run by its founder Stephen Gordon. Tom was a member of a three man executive team, which also included Tom Christopher, former EVP of Pier One. Gordon, Christopher and Low expanded Restoration Hardware from four stores to 100 stores, in 26 states and Canada, with a direct mail and e-commerce business. The business grew to over $300 million in revenue, with increases in annual profits. Tom took Restoration Hardware public in June 1998 (NASDAQ: RSTO). The Goldman Sachs led IPO became one of the most successful IPOs in 1998 as the market capitalization reached $500 million.
Tom was eventually pulled into the internet craze and joined search engine Ask Jeeves (NASDAQ: ASK) as CFO in early 2000. After the Internet bubble burst, Tom served as CFO, Interim CFO, or consultant for a number of start-ups including Safeway.com (e-commerce), Project Arena (software), Iro Systems (location technology), and Aspire Public Schools (non-profit).
Tom has served on the board of trustees, and as treasurer for St. Paul's Episcopal School in Oakland, a kindergarten through eight grade independent school, since 2001. He is a founding board member of the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the National Asian American Society of Accountants and other financial professionals. Tom is an associate member of the California Society of Certified Public Accountants (CalCPA).
EMAIL: TOM@BRIDGESSF.COM
