Category Archives: About Tom

Tom’s Talk About (and Prototype of) The Gift Economy

I presented at TEDxIIT on Saturday, April 14, on the south side campus of IIT. I talked about The Gift Economy and created one among the attendees. 82 of the 100 attendees actually offered something to their fellow attendees!

Here is the presentation:

Click on the player below to listen and click on the Slideshare viewer to watch the presentation.

View more PowerPoint from Thomas Tresser
You can watch all the presentations here – http://mypages.iit.edu/~tedxiit/video2012.html

Tom Part of Boost Camp for Arts Entrepreneurs

I’ve been added to the faculty of The Institute for Arts Entrepreneurship’s 2012 Boost Camp. The Boost Camp is a series of 12 online experiences will help you work through a variety of relevant and specific topics to help you build your creative career. You will be guided and given the tools and information needed to execute your strategy you develop during the course. You will be introduced to creative, entrepreneurial and innovative experts from around the world, along with a community of artists with whom you will be able to share knowledge and opportunities. I’ll be doing a session on “Introduction to the Creative Economy – Why Creativity Fuels Progress” on June 9. Learn more here…

We know there is no one simple path that’s right for everyone. Boost Camp provides lectures by industry experts, group interaction and one-on-one sessions.

Tom Interviewed By Evoca Founder

Murem Sharpe, the CEO and founder of the online audio service Evoca, interviewed Tom online. Tom has been using Evoca for online recording and archiving speeches for a number of years.  This is the audio file, 21 minutes.

Global CEOs Say Creativity #1 “Must Have”

Good Magazine made this two minute video illustrating the 2010 IBM Global CEO Report where over 1,500 CEOs from 63 countries said that creativity was the Number One trait they are looking for from their managers. That’s why I’m teaching a class on creativity and business at the IIT Stuart School of Business.

GOOD Magazine Illustrates IBM’s 2010 CEO Study from Kaldor on Vimeo.

Tom’s Keynote from Forum – “Connecting the Dots – Privatization is the Symptom, Not the Cure”

Evanston Neighbors for Peace presented…

                                       “The Privatizers are coming! They’re HERE!”

Connecting the Dots – Privatization Is The Symptom, Not The Cure

The presenters were Tom Tresser of Illinois Public Bank Working Group and Flo Estes of the Evanston Community-Labor Alliance. Here is Tom’s presentation with audio (20 minutes):

Tom’s Talk About Future of Nonprofits

Tom was one of the presenters at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Great Cities Institute forum marking the 10th anniversary of their Professional Education Program’s Certificate in Nonprofit Management. He claimed that the nonprofit sector has failed America and urged nonprofit leaders, workers and constituents to get political and join a new political initiative called CForward. Hear his remarks (about ten minutes):

The presenters were:


Welcome to my world…

Questions I’ve been investigating:

  • How to make politics interesting?
  • How to protect the Commons?
  • What is the value of creativity?
  • What are the connections between imagination, culture and creativity and economic development and social change?

Work I’m currently engaged in:

Dear Members of the International Olympic Committee – Emails from the No Games Chicago Campaign
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Services I offer:

  • Ideation and creative strategic planning for breakthrough insight for businesses and nonprofit organizations
  • Community and economic development for neighborhoods and cities
  • Stop privatization. fight Mega Projects. Creative community organizing.
  • Keynote presentations, workshops and training on creativity and social change, the politics of creativity, the artist as leader, why YOU should run for local office.

Classes I’m teaching: