| HARWINTON
OUTSTANDING CITIZEN
2012 Honoree
TOM
SCHOENEMANN
Tom and his wife
Joan, have been Harwinton residents since 1991, though
he spent many summers here beginning in 1943 and became
a full-time resident in 1954 before beginning college
and his career elsewhere. Tom was born in Brooklyn,
New York, and, after living and working in the San Francisco
area, Boston, and London, he returned to Harwinton to
make it his home. He has said that, “I grew up
here and I loved coming here as a child where things
were green and growing, and I enjoy living here because
of the friendly atmosphere and the spirit of volunteerism”.
Tom’s contributions to Harwinton have included
his involvement in many non-profit organizations in
the town throughout the years. He served as president
of the Harwinton Land Conservation Trust from 1994 to
2004, and from 2010 to present. He has served as treasurer
of the Harwinton Congregational Church for several years
and has served on a variety of boards and committees
there. He currently serves as president of the Church
Council. He served briefly in the past as treasurer
of the Harwinton Tennis Club, the Harwinton Historical
Society, and the Harwinton Garden Club.
Tom has also served as secretary of the Town of Harwinton
Conservation Commission, had served on the Recreation
Study Commission, and chaired the Task Force studying
the advantages and disadvantages of four-years terms
for selectmen. In addition, he served as chair of the
Economic Development Commission in 2010 and 2011. He
is currently on the Investment Committee for the Harwinton
Library. He also serves on the Board of the Yale Club
of Northwest Connecticut and served many years as its
president.
Tom has been
very involved as a counselor and as a past chair of
the Northwest Connecticut Chapter of SCORE, a non-profit
group of business men and women who have been successful
entrepreneurs and small business owners offering advice
and assistance to area business owners or those seeking
to begin a small business. He has been with SCORE since
1992 and has been manager of the SCORE counseling program
at the Greater Bristol Chamber of Commerce since 1995.
He is a frequent speaker on small business planning
and authored the basic guide, “Starting a Small
Business in Northwest Connecticut”.
Tom is Professor Emeritus of Management from the School
of Business at San Francisco State University where
he was in charge of the small business program and Director
of the Small Business Institute. Before joining the
University, he worked for the consulting form of Arthur
D. Little, Inc., in Boston, London, and San Francisco
for 15 years working on a variety of projects that often
involved business planning and operations. He also did
consulting work in the area of compensation management.
Prior to that, he worked as an engineer in the Advanced
Systems Studies Department at Sandia Corporation involved
in planning for future projects at a government research
and engineering facility in California. He has a Bachelor’s
degree with honors and a Master’s degree from
Yale and a Ph.D. from the University of California at
Berkeley in electrical engineering and applied mathematics.
For Photos
Soures:
Harwinton Historical Society Scrapbook
Republican American Newspaper
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