Thomas Vass
President
Private Capital Markets
Author of
Predicting Technology: Identifying Future Market Opportunitites and Disruptive Technologies
Morrisville, NC
tvass@privatecapitalmarket.com

Thomas Vass grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina, and attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He graduated with an undergraduate degree in Political Science and a Masters in Regional Planning, with a concentration in regional economic development and labor market theory.

In 1975, he became an economic advisor to the Board of Directors of B. C. Hydro and Power Authority, in Vancouver, British Columbia. His work involved linking energy investments to provincial economic development projects and providing economic advice to senior management.

In 1977, he returned to North Carolina to become an economic advisor to the state Department of Labor. His work involved developing high skill training programs and small business development policy initiatives for the state. He authored the grant applications and provided project management  for state-wide high skill training/economic development projects, such as the Wanchese Harbor Marine Crafts Skill Training Program.

One of his economic policy publications, Industrial Recruitment and North Carolina’s Path of Economic Development To The Year 2000, contained the policy guidelines for the organization that eventually became the North Carolina Council for Entrepreneurial Development. UNC-CH Libraries /All Locations

In 1984, he became an investment consultant for E. F. Hutton. In 1988, he opened his own registered investment advisory corporation, Business & Family Financial Strategies, Inc. He developed a patented proprietary portfolio management methodology, and was cited in The Wealth Equation  as one of the top 100 private managers in the nation.

He is the author of publications related to the topics of economic development, history, political philosophy and marketing theory.

Predicting Technology: Identifying Future Market Opportunities & Disruptive Technologies, (2006), explains how technology evolves within a regional economic structure.

Reclaiming The American Democratic Impulse, (2007), which explains why more citizen democracy is the best solution for America’s political woes.
The Big Free Market Lie, (2007), which describes when conventional economic theory of free markets can not be relied upon for providing public policy guidance on economic growth.
Equal Rights For All. Special Privileges For None: Principles of American Populism  (2003), explains the history of the current cultural divide between individualism and collectivism in America.
Do Cities Still Matter? The Regional Geographical Imperative of Technological Progress In A Global Inter-Networked Market (2000), explains the relationship between changes in the global economy, regional technical change and regional economic growth.

He served as an arbitrator on the National Association of Security Dealers Board of Arbitration from 1996 to 2004. He was the organizer and first President of the Middle Creek/Swift Creek Community Alliance, Inc., a watershed protection environmental group in Wake County that successfully fought overdevelopment in the watershed over a 25 year period. He was the organizer and first president of a state professional association called the North Carolina Investment Advisers Association, whose mission is to promote high ethical standards in the advisor profession. In 1985, along with Dr. Art Hemmerlein, he co-founded NC Fathers For Equal Rights, an advocacy group for mediation in cases of divorce involving minor children.

In addition to published books and journal articles, he has been a frequent contributor to the op-ed pages in North Carolina’s daily newspapers.