About Tom J. Nolan

Tom Nolan is a seasoned executive, investor, entrepreneur, and board leader with more than two decades of experience scaling iconic consumer brands.

Currently, Tom serves as CEO and Chairman of the Board of Les Schwab Tire Centers. Les Schwab is a multi-billion dollar, service-led automotive retailer with more than 8,500 employees across 600+ locations. Grounded in a legacy of community, consistency, and customer loyalty, it delivers trusted, relationship-driven car care alongside its tire sales. In this role, Tom is focused on driving continued operational excellence and long-term value creation across Les Schwab and its entire portfolio of brands, including CMC Tire and Pete’s Road Service. He is advancing these priorities by investing in people, enhancing the customer experience, and strengthening the company’s differentiated service model—powered by its dedicated employees and member dealers.

Tom previously served as CEO of Kendra Scott, where he guided the company through extraordinary growth—expanding to more than 165 stores, driving a thriving e-commerce and wholesale business, and strengthening its mission of fashion, family, and philanthropy. During his tenure, the company grew more than twentyfold with an enterprise value over $1B, earned a spot on Newsweek’s America’s Most Loved Workplaces (2022–2024), and he was named Austin Business Journal’s 2023 Best CEO.

Earlier in his career, Tom held senior roles at Ralph Lauren, where he led the golf, tennis, and Olympics businesses across North America, Mexico, and the Caribbean, and at Condé Nast as Vice President & Publisher. He also founded Prospect Brands and currently advises and invests in consumer and lifestyle companies. Tom has been an advisor for Blackstone and Fanatics, and he currently serves on the boards of Silver Oak Cellars, Made In, Greyson Clothiers, the Kenan-Flagler Center for Entrepreneurship and Sweetens Cove Spirits Company.

Tom earned his MBA from UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School and a BA in Business, Finance, and Communications from Fordham University, where he played baseball and golf. He spends his time between Bend, Oregon and Austin, Texas with his wife, Alexandra, and their five children. Tom remains deeply committed to philanthropy through the Brain Aneurysm Foundation, Inheritance of Hope, The Morgan Hoffman Foundation, and the Nolan Family Scholarship at Villanova University.