Thomas Wilson is an electrical engineer from the small town of Bastrop, Texas. He graduated from Texas State University with his Bachelor’s in Manufacturing Engineering and has 10 years of professional experience, six of which have been with Baird, Hampton and Brown.
He says his favorite part of engineering is that “engineering builds upon the principles of facts and knowledge that everyone has access to, but the creative solutions to solve problems, rewards the ones that have a full understanding of those principles and how to apply them to different situations and projects.”
He always had a feeling that his future career would be engineering, even if he didn’t know exactly what it was called at the time. As a child he loved building things and would play with Legos and build cities in his backyard out of pieces of wood and matchbox cars. When he was young his “opa” (the German word for grandpa) who was an inspector for TxDOT, took him to a river bridge in Bastrop that was under construction. Thomas got to see all the cranes and building equipment, which was something that really fascinated him.
Thomas’ Opa and Oma were big influences on him as a kid and not only influenced his professional career but his mindset toward life. At the age of 10, he started working at his Oma’s convenience store doing simple tasks such as sweeping and cleaning the store. He worked there up until the age of 21 and did everything from cashier duties and cleaning to being the cook. He cherished the 11 years spent working at his Oma’s store because he learned so much, especially how to be a good listener.
“What I loved most about working at a convenience store is you got to see the rich people, the poor people, the sad people, the happy people, the people having a good day one day and a bad day the next. It really showed you the breadth of humanity. You got to see all walks of life and it taught me to value things that other people didn’t have and opportunities other people didn’t have,” said Thomas.
As the leader of the new San Antonio office, he wants to bring the same mindset into the office with being personable toward colleagues and getting to know them on a deeper level.
He has worked on several projects during his time with BHB but one of his favorite and more recent projects was The Vineyard on Lancaster affordable housing project for Union Gospel Mission. During their time working on the project, he and a few colleagues got the chance to volunteer at UGM by serving food. He said he was happy to give back with such a rewarding experience.
“I really enjoyed working with them because of their interest in giving back to the community and helping out the homeless population,” said Thomas.
Another recent project of Thomas’ is the City of Fort Worth’s public WiFi project, which will provide five low-to-moderate income neighborhoods with free WiFi. His previous experience as a street lighting engineer with the City of Fort Worth and working at Philips Lighting has helped him immensely with this project. The biggest advantage is that he knows how the City of Fort Worth’s street lighting system is set up and how it works.
Outside of work, Thomas enjoys spending time with his wife, Aryana, and four-year-old daughter Penelope, camping, and grilling/smoking BBQ. His favorite camping spot is the Garner State Park because of the Frio River, but says any camping spot is fun if you are with the right people and cook good food. As far as grilling and smoking BBQ, he loves grilling ribeyes with whole jalapeños and smoking brisket and pulled pork.