Yale Alumni Unscripted: Thomas Opladen ’66

Tom attended Yale College in the Class of 1966, held an NROTC scholarship, and was the Treasurer of the Class of 1966 for over 20 years. He co-founded and was the first President of the Yale Veterans Association, where he was active in facilitating the return of the Air Force and Navy ROTC units to campus. He was the original organizer and is cochair of YaleFin, the shared Interest Group for finance professionals. Tom served on the Board of Governors of the Yale Alumni Association for four years, the last year as an Executive Officer, and was chair of the Shared Interest Group Committee. He was the recipient of the Veterans Day and Alumni Leadership Awards.

Tom worked in the corporate finance area of investment banking from 1973 until 1988 including serving as Director of Corporate Finance and Director of Private Placements at Bank of America and in the Corporate Finance Department of Shearson Loeb Rhoades. He was interim CEO as well as Chairman of the Board of Graham-Field Health Products, Inc. As the longest-serving director of Parsons Brinckerhoff, a worldwide engineering and construction management company, he worked with management to profitably grow the company from slightly over $100 million in revenue to almost $2.5 billion. He is currently Executive Chairman of MMT, Inc.

Tom has a BS degree from Yale University, an MBA from Harvard, and served as Chief Engineer and third in command of a destroyer in the U. S. Navy.