Experience Counts
Diversified Background Equals Strong Operations Experience
Few leaders have the breadth and depth of experience in so many areas and industries:
Technology | HealthCare | General Business
Tom has spent his career challenging himself across various disciplines, occupations, sectors and industries. He has developed a unique portfolio of experiences in retail, wholesale, manufacturing, distribution, sales, marketing, design, development, financing, acquisition, turnaround and liquidity.
What do others say?
…amazing creativity and vision in advising winning business strategies…
…his advice can definitely help entrepreneurs avoid mistakes and accelerate success…
…able to size up complicated business, legal, financial and technological issues quickly and take the steps necessary to turn them around for a positive result…
…an insightful and authoritative voice in business leadership …
To learn more check out the Experience tab.
Current Events
Tom Was a panelist at the Oregon Bioscience Association annual conference: An Industry inflection Point.
The Annual conference highlighted Oregon's increasing national role as a hub for biotechnology and bio science research and development. Oregon has long been a strong regional center of life science activity. The momentum and international attention of the $1 Billion OHSU Knight Cancer Challenge has created a “transformative moment” that will dramatically impact bioscience in the state–potentially enhancing commercialization opportunities, increasing resources available for research activity and elevating the visibility of all stakeholders working to solidify Oregon’s growing reputation as a hub for advanced medical research and commercialization.
Tom joined a number of industry experts including: William Goldstein, Ph.D. Director of Lawrence Livermore National Labs, Jeffrey Trent, Ph.D., President and Research Director, Translational Genomics Research Inst., Thomas Fogarty, M.D., Chair/Dir./Founder, Fogarty Institute for Innovation, Ted Goldstein, Ph.D., Center for Biomolecular Science and Engineering, Univ. of CA at Santa Cruz, Jill Hagenkord, M.D., FCAP, Chief Medical Officer, 23andMe and Raymond DuBois, M.D., Executive Director, BioDesign Institute ASU.
Tom and Jill Rissi, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Portland State University led the Breakout Session II: Innovation in Redefining Healthcare. They discussed that while the debate over the Affordable Care Act continues, Tom and Dr. Rissi showed how the US could best allocate resources, improve access, quality and affordability, and provide appropriate oversight accountability and responsibility. Mr. Loker presented an original and innovative vision of what the current form of America’s “non-‐system” of health care might evolve toward. He stated that he believe that, if we are not already at an inflection point, we soon may be and perhaps should be. His vision of a truly “patient-‐centric” realignment of the activities, roles, and responsibilities seemed necessary to the attendees. In fact many remarked after the presentation they felt the plan was practical, desirable and essential.
The conclusion of the attendees was that research innovation and successful entrepreneurial initiative all depend, ultimately, on adoption and implementation by the providers of America’s health care services. The business, professional and regulatory environment that providers face must undergo further evolution,. This remains a subject of vital interest to Oregon’s Life Science community.
New WhitePaper Available 2/25/2014
We have evolved a belief that we have a system for the delivery of healthcare but, it’s not a system at all. It is a collection of self-predatory practices and methods that promulgate massive increases in costs, erosion of effective checks and balances and exponential unintended consequences.
Click here to view a draft of the whitepaper outlining a pragmatic and effective solution to address the fundamental problems that have plagued our health system and are the reason that no prior "fixes" have actually worked.
Tom Was a panelist at ACG San Francisco 12/10/2013
Audios & Videos
The Joe Show on KGMI Talk 790
Joe talks health care history and reform with Thomas Loker, author of "The History and Evolution of Healthcare in America." . (radio)
33:49
WCLO brings you the breaking news as the Supreme Court upholds the Affordable Care Act. What does this mean for Americans? Author Tom Loker probes these concepts and other possibilities for sustainable healthcare in his latest book, The History and Evolution of Healthcare in America. (radio)
41:48
Tuner-in with PJ Ochlan
PJ Ochlan interviews Tom about the We Movement. (radio)
28:30
I-Universe interview with author Tom Loker on his new book, the History and Evolution of Healthcare in America. (podcast)
17:47
WE Movement Launch-Orange County, CA. (video)
4:46
Social Forum: The Pharmaceutical Industry - Round Two With Bruce Hurwitz
(audio)
42:09
The Nurses Station - A Podcast
(audio)
36:18
Do you know an organization or group interested in the topic of healthcare reform, its history, or what we can do to fix it? Perhaps you should recomend that they invite Tom to speak!
Tom speaks on business matters, healthcare reform, tech trends and patient centered care, as well as other topics. Click the link to ccontact us for more information.
Tom in the news
Download your free copy of Tom's latest paper - Startups in America: Beware of Geeks Bearing Gifts
I have spent many years in the fabled Silicon Valley, working with startups and investors to develop new businesses in many different industries. Along the way I have seen a lot, some good and some not so good. I have seen good entrepreneurs and investors, and I have lived through a few really bad ones as well.
Download your free copy Now!
While much has changed, much has not. Some things have gotten better and others much worse. What has stayed the same is that it is still very difficult to conceptualize, finance and build a business to maturity in a way that is good for founders, employees and investors.
To a great extent I think that the system today is simply stacked against all of us.
I have come to the conclusion it could be much easier and much more effective if we simply did a few things a bit differently. This paper is a little of what I think! Click the graphic above to download your free copy.
America has long been a land of invention and innovation. Having lived through the entire PC revolution, I can see that we have been blessed with massive change to the U.S. and the world due to both technological innovation and a business climate that supported risk capital investment. For the past 30 years or so, this engine of change has been based on the startup business industry. In more recent history the engine has showed signs that it no longer may be what it seems. Some have said as early as 2012 that it is fundamentally and forever broken. Yet, from the pace of young entrepreneurs out trying to start businesses to again change the world, one would never know there is a problem. You’d never know, that is, unless you actually looked a little below the surface.
Entrepreneurs trying to raise money in order to start a business are faced with numerous pitfalls, posers, crooks, charlatans and RPRTrs (Right Place Right Timers) all scattered along what is, for many, little more than a boulevard of broken dreams. We have a cast of characters in both the good, and not so good meaning of the word. We have entrepreneurs, serial entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, angel investors, angel investment groups, super angels, crowd funding, facilitators, "consultants," deal syndicators, incubators, accelerators and many others. All of these entities want the entrepreneur, or the investor, to think they are "The Answer." Some of them may be -- many more end up being their worst nightmare.
In this paper I try to give an overview of where these characters came from, what benefits they can bring and the kind of harm they can render if we are not careful. I also try to track some of the changes and show how they have built the current dynamic environment. I also ask some questions for you, the reader, to think about.
In my opinion, from the entrepreneur's perspective, the access to smart money has never been easy. More importantly, from the investor's perspective, it has not been hard enough. We believe a lot of things about the value of the hi-tech, biotech and Internet industries. We also believe that startups are key to our economic future. I am not sure that all we believe is correct. I do think there are some fundamental questions we should answer.
First and foremost, if we are going to have a robust startup business industry, we need to understand not only why startups fail, but how to help them not fail and to bring them longer term viability. You will find, if you read this paper, that there are some things we can do to improve how we develop startup businesses that I thank can have significant long term effects and are relatively simple to do.
This paper reflects on my historical perspective working with startups and investors, what I have observed that worked, and what I have learned that does not. I have condensed a number of very good research papers as to both the evolution and current state of capital access from VCs, angel investors and other sources as well as some excellent reports on why startups succeed and why they fail.
Overall, my conclusion is there are a number of things we should do differently if we want to continue to have a robust startup industry in the years to come. I make a few suggestions at the end. I hope you will either click the link above or the title and download your free copy. I only ask one thing! If you feel this has merit, forward to people you know and let them read it also.
As I said this paper is free and I hope it will circulate and open up some needed discussions. Startups in America - Beware of Geeks Bearing Gifts (revised)
Sun Tsu: The Art of War - Sales and Marketing Management: The Art of Competition
Throughout history, Sun Tsu has been one of the foremost military strategists in history. He also has many applicable lessons to apply to business.
Careful thought and application of these principals to business will yield the same results as those experienced by Sun Tzu's disciples over the past 2500 years. Mao Tse-tung was strongly influenced by Sun Tzu's thought. This is apparent in those works, by Mao, that deal with military strategy and tactics such as; On Guerilla Warfare, On the Protracted War, and Strategic Problems of China's Revolutionary War.
Tom has written and spoken about Sun Tsu and his valuable lessons many times before. He is revising his work in this area and soon will be presenting a series of lectures to describe how the basic tenants of Sun Tsu apply to business today. He will review Sun Tsu's 13 chapters discussing the areas of: estimations, waging business, offensive strategies, manoeuvre, markets, competitive attacks, and employment of spies; all things Sun Tsu addressed first over 2500 years ago.
If you're in business, whether a businessmen in the field or the "C" suite, you'll want to attend one of these seminars.
Tom's latest article spurs controversy
October 16, 2014
Why the Middle Class is Still Getting Crushed: Let's look back!
Tom starts his latest artice with the statement, "It is now crystal clear that the middle class are being destroyed. Politician's explanations are based on pure biased rhetoric. The real reason is much simpler. It is the mechanics of how we are trying to fix the economy." Tom continues to describe how the Affordable Care Act, and many other government attempts to help the country, have had a disasterous effect on the middle class; mostly due to the mechanics of how the solutions have been applied. Apparently, he struck a nerve as this has rapidly become one of the top articles on his blog. If you have not read it, perhaps you should. Visit Tom's Blog to find out more.
Tom Loker, businessman & author, and Jill Rissi, Ph.D. assistant professor, portland state university, present innovation in redefining healthcare at the oregon biosciences association annual conference in Portland.
September 16, 2014
The presentation was a stimulating discussion of how to stop debating the Affordible Care Act, Obamacare, and how to fix our healthcare system.
The debate over the ACA continues: how should America best allocate resources, improve access, quality and affordability, and provide appropriate oversight accountability and responsibility? Mr. Loker and Dr. Rissi presented an original and innovative vision of what the current form of America's 'non-system' of healthcare might evolve toward. In their vision, a truly "patient-centric" realignment of the activities, roles and responsibilities were not only feasable, but they presented good evidence it is already evolving in the needed direction and the concepts are garnering significant support.
This well attended breakout session provided tremendous benefit to all that attended and sparked some very interesting after session conversations! Overall, it was regarded as a great presentation by the attendees. Visit http://healthreform2dot0.org/ to find out more about the ideas and concepts.
Tom appointed Senior Advisor, Venture-Med
July 10, 2013
Venture-Med is an exclusive membership organization of accredited investors who want to be introduced to innovative healthcare startups and related investment opportunities.
We are one of the newest angel investment groups in Silicon Valley and we offer our members a screening process to find the best innovative new companies seeking seed funding and mentorship. Our focus is on healthcare and we provide the entrepreneur the expertise to guide and successfully fund. We provide them with representation for syndication with other angel investment groups. This creates a win for the investor and the entrepreneur.
"Tom brings tremendous experience in healthcare and health policy in this new and emerging world of ObamaCare," said Jose Bolanos, M.D., Founder of Venture-Med, "We are very happy to have him accept the role of Senior Advisor."
"I agreed to join Jose, and Venture-Med, because I feel they are developing a new and value based group that will truly help healthcare entrepreneurs, not simply find access to capital, but will help lower the failure rate of startups by more tightly integrating the network access to needed answers and resources in a cost effective and timely manner! I believe this is necessary for angel investors to be successful in this new healthcare paradigm."
Venture-Med @twloker
Tom appeared on HuffPost Live with Alyona Minkoviski - Be Gone, Gonorrhea! segment
January 15, 2013
Author and healthcare executive Thomas Loker appeared on the Huffington Post Live segment with Alyona Minkoviski on a panel discussing the rising preveprevalencelence of resistant bacteria. Tom discussed the historical perspective and the evolutionary conundrum we face in treating diseases.
HuFFPostLive @twloker
The Supreme Court Decision: It hurts to be wrong — but it hurts more to be right and still wrong!
July 2, 2012
Now that we have all heard the decision by the Supreme Court on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), perhaps it is time for some reflection. I know as I read the decision Thursday morning, while I was waiting in the queue preparing for a radio interview on the issue, I felt both vindicated in my initial analysis, but also left wanting and inadequate for not seeing the sideways tax justification for its declared constitutionality. . .
CaPoliticalReview.com @twloker