A native of Cadiz, Kentucky, Tom Davis was commissioned a Lieutenant in the Field Artillery upon graduation from the United States Military Academy in 1972.  After numerous troop assignments in Germany and Korea, he earned a Master’s Degree in International Relations and Economics at Harvard University, and joined the faculty of the Military Academy teaching International Relations, Economics, and Government in the Department of Social Sciences.  In 1985, Mr. Davis graduated from the Marine Command and Staff College where he won the prestigious Clifton B. Cates Award for individual research, then joined the Office of the Army Chief of Staff as the Fire Support and Classified Program Analyst.  He subsequently served as Military Assistant to the Secretary of the Army before moving to the Joint Staff where he was the Chief, Non-Strategic Nuclear Forces Branch, in J-8.  In this position, he headed the study that served as the basis for the 1991 decision withdrawing American short-range nuclear forces from Europe. 

In July 1990, Lieutenant Colonel Davis assumed command of the 4th Battalion, 82d Field Artillery, in Hanau, Germany.  He commanded this battalion throughout its deployment with the U.S. VII Corps for Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, and led it during the main attack against Iraqi Republican Guard forces during the four-day ground campaign.  In August 1992, Mr. Davis was named as the Army Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council of the United States, and subsequently assigned as Chief of the Army Program Development Division in the Office of the Army Chief of Staff.  After a tour as the Army Executive Fellow at the Brookings Institution, Colonel Davis retired from the Army in June 1997. 

In April 1997, Tom joined the Northrop Grumman Corporation as Senior Defense Analyst advising the corporate leadership on emerging strategic, technological and budgetary trends in the American defense program.  He was a frequent author of articles and editorials on defense strategy and management issues.  Having written an assessment on Homeland Security (HLS) in the Spring of 2001, and a subsequent monograph on the subject, he was asked to coordinate corporate HLS programs following the attacks of September 11, 2001.  He is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

In September 2002, Tom joined the corporate staff at General Dynamics Corporation and was named Director of Strategic Planning.  In July 2005 he was promoted to Staff Vice President, and in March 2008 to Corporate Vice President for Strategic Planning and Business Development.  In these capacities, Mr. Davis evaluated trends in the national security, federal civil sector, and international markets to identify emerging business opportunities.  He retired from GD in April 2013, and is currently Senior Fellow in Residence at the National Defense Industrial Association and was recently named the Forrestal-Richardson Industry Chair at Defense Acquisition University.

Tom published his first novel, Conclave, in August 2016.  It is a fictionalized account of the election of Pope John Paul II in October 1978, and takes advantage of Tom’s extensive experiences over the past forty years.