Executives in Residence tall

Until his retirement in 2016, Tom Everill served as President and CEO of Northwest Center, one of the largest and most successful social enterprise nonprofits in the region. During his tenure Northwest Center turned itself around financially, developed a collaborative culture aligned with its values, and established itself as an innovator and thought leader in the national disability rights community.

Before that Tom worked through a 27 year progression of accounting and finance roles in the global logistics industry at Airborne Express where he designed and managed cross-currency financial settlement systems, launched a highly successful profit improvement program, led offshore merger and acquisition projects, and served as integration officer when Deutsche Post acquired Airborne under the DHL umbrella.

His 40 years of experience leading turnaround efforts and ambitious change projects in both sectors has given Tom a profound fascination with organizational transformation, complexity and uncertainty, group dynamics and conflict, the critical importance of culture, and the paradoxical power of leadership that evokes rather than directs. His experience at Northwest Center has also convinced him that business can be a potent instrument of social good.

He teaches the MBA capstone course in systems thinking and complexity at Milgard.

Originally from the east coast, Adam has called the South Sound home since 2005 and has spent much of his time exploring the incredible natural settings of the Pacific Northwest with his family. He spent 10 years working for a local forest products company before shifting gears and working for a Seattle-based technology and management consulting firm for three years.

When the opportunity to rejoin the South Sound business community presented itself, Adam jumped at it and has been with Schnitzer Steel since 2019 - initially as the General Manager of their Tacoma-based regional hub facility, and more recently as the Director of Enterprise Data Analytics.

Adam holds a B.S. in Biology from Dickinson College, and an MBA from the University of Washington-Tacoma Milgard School of Business.

Richard Wilkinson, Milgard’s recently appointed Executive in Residence, has held HR/OD leadership roles in three industries: municipal government, global health, and higher education. He has masters degrees from USC in public administration and from Antioch University Seattle’s Organization Systems Renewal program.

Creating healthier workplaces has been a consuming interest of Richard’s since his undergraduate days, with a particular interest in the pivotal role skilled managers play in creating positive, productive workplaces.

Retiring in 2019 from his position as Associate Vice Chancellor for HR and organization development at UWT, he has since served as adjunct faculty in both the MBA and MCL programs and in the MBA program in Portland State University. He is a skilled facilitator, enthusiastic educator, and evangelist for better management.

Richard currently serves on Milgard’s MBA Refresh Task Force. Earlier played a key role in helping create the current strategic plan for the School, including updating the School’s mission.

In 2018 Richard received the Lisbeth Claus Trailblazer Award from the HR Roundtable/Global HR Consortium, a regional forum of HR leaders. He was also a featured practitioner in the 25th anniversary edition of Marvin Weisbord's notable book on the history and practice of organization development, Productive Workplaces.