Bio
Tom Atkinson is the kind of person who asks questions until he finds the real answer. It's what made him a good project manager, a careful business owner, and eventually the person who could finally name a financial pattern that had been quietly taking out trades businesses for decades.
He started in the U.S. Army, a petroleum supply specialist retrained as a cable systems technician, deployed to Kuwait. The service gave him structure, discipline, and a deep respect for doing things the right way the first time. When he came home to Albuquerque, there were no easy doors open. He made calls, followed up, and eventually landed a job sweeping floors for a general contractor, grateful for the foothold and patient enough to see where it led.
The interim position with the general contractor led to seven years with a low voltage contractor, working his way from the field to project manager, earning his RCDD certification along the way. Then a business partnership, a co-founded firm, and eleven years of building something real— fire alarm, AV, cameras, and network cabling for schools, hospitals, and government clients across the region.
The business grew. The work was good. But Tom kept asking why. Why did some projects feel profitable and leave the bank account unmoved? Why did revenue keep climbing while the financial picture stayed murky? He was thorough enough to keep digging and honest enough to admit he didn't have the full answer yet.
What he eventually found was a pattern hiding inside almost every trades business he'd ever been close to: gross margin that looked healthy while masking unprofitable jobs, and overhead so poorly allocated it was stealing profit from places no one thought to look. He named it, then he built a tool to fix it.
In 2024, Tom and his partner sold the firm. After the sale, he completed his bachelor's degree in Entrepreneurial Studies and his MBA, putting academic structure around what twenty years of doing the work had already taught him.
Today Tom lives in Albuquerque with his wife Jessica where they have raised their four kids. He wrote "The Liar, The Thief" because he couldn't find the book he needed all those years ago. He speaks at trade events and he runs Trades Alignment because writing about the problem and actually fixing it are two different things and both matter to him.
Credentials
U.S. Army veteran — petroleum supply specialist and cable systems technician, deployed to Kuwait
20+ years in specialty electrical and special systems contracting
Co-founder and co-manager of a special systems contracting firm serving schools, hospitals, and government clients — fire alarm, AV, low voltage, network cabling
Successfully co-managed through eleven years of growth and a business sale in 2024
RCDD — BICSI Registered Communications Distribution Designer (current)
CTS-D/I — AVIXA Certified Technology Specialist, Designer/Installer (former)
Bachelor's degree in Entrepreneurial Studies, December 2024
MBA, May 2026