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Tom Wolf

Before Tom Wolf was governor of Pennsylvania, he was the owner of the Wolf Organization, a distributor of lumber and other building products.

Tom grew up in a small south central Pennsylvania town in York County. He left York County to attend college at Dartmouth, but he interrupted his studies to join the Peace Corps and served two years in a small village in India before returning to finish his undergraduate degree. He later earned graduate degrees from the University of London and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

While finishing his PhD, Tom worked as a forklift operator and warehouse worker in the family business, the Wolf Organization, a distributor of lumber and other building products based in York, Pennsylvania. After graduating, his first full-time job was running a Tru-Value hardware store in Manchester, Pennsylvania. He later went on to buy his family business and grew the company — eventually more than quintupling the business in size. He did this with smart leadership and by treating his employees fairly, even sharing the company’s profits with workers.

Since he took office in 2015, Tom has fought to change Harrisburg. On day one, his first actions as governor were signing a gift ban prohibiting administration employees from accepting gifts from lobbyists and reforming legal contracting to end pay to play. Tom also donates his entire salary to charity and refuses a state pension.

When Tom took office, he inherited an education system that had been cut by one billion dollars that led to teacher layoffs, cuts to programs like pre-k and tutoring, and larger class sizes. Rather than make Pennsylvania’s children the first casualty of the budget process, Tom made our children and our future our top priority. He has now restored the one billion dollar cut to education made in the previous administration, leading to improved graduation rates and more children in pre-k.

By expanding Medicaid, Tom provided quality, affordable health care to 720,000 Pennsylvanians. He has also given more than 50,000 seniors the opportunity to age in their homes and made Pennsylvania a national leader in fighting the opioid and heroin epidemic by expanding treatment options and ensuring law enforcement and first responders have the resources they need.

Tom is working to grow our economy by making it easier for small businesses to start and expanding career and technical education opportunities. He is fighting to make sure wages keep up with the cost of living, focusing on skills training for kids who do not go to college, helping small businesses, and rebuilding Pennsylvania’s infrastructure.

 

Presentations

symposium on democracy 2020

Opening Remarks from W&J President
John C. Knapp and Gov. Tom Wolf

February 17, 2021 @ 8:45 am - 9:00 am

Washington & Jefferson College President John C. Knapp, Ph.D., will welcome guests to the 2021 Symposium on Democracy, followed by a special message from The Hon. Tom Wolf, Ph.D., Governor…