Tom Key founded Somerset Advisors after more than 20 years launching and developing talent networking programs for the world’s leading management consulting firms. Those programs are now the industry standard for consulting and professional services, cementing Tom’s reputation as a pioneer and innovator in executive advising and talent networking.

After an early career with renowned retained search firm Egon Zehnder, Tom joined Bain & Co. to found the firm’s executive talent network, which advises and supports executives in career transition. Subsequently, he replicated the model for Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In 2022, Tom joined World 50 to expand the organization’s offering to include career coaching and counsel for its executive membership.

Through his work coaching and advising executives through complex career decisions, Tom understands the nuances of executive and board level searches and negotiations, for public and private companies, ranging from venture-backed to Fortune 500. An avid networker, Tom leverages his extensive network to connect executives with common interests and accelerate searches.

A long-time adjunct professor at Emory University, Tom lectures in the Goizueta Business School, sharing his expertise on topics including How to work with Executive Search Firms, and How & Why We Network. In 2004 he created his most popular and now longest running class, Current Events & Business. Tom has also spoken to the graduate programs at HBS, Kellogg, and Wharton. In 2025, Tom will begin co-teaching an entrepreneurship course at Brandeis University.

Tom holds an undergraduate degree from Denison University in Economics and Asian Studies, and an MBA from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University. Tom and his wife live in Atlanta, with their dogs and a retired horse. Their twin daughters are juniors in college, and Tom looks forward to providing them with career advice, solicited or unsolicited.