Thomas Craig Roberts

Following graduation from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1964, Mr. Roberts spent five years on active duty, serving in several command and general staff positions, primarily in Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and Southeast Asia, including two deployments to Vietnam. During this time, he held various command positions in the Artillery, served as Aide-de-Camp to the Deputy Commanding General of NATO, and spent nearly three years as a Green Beret in charge of a Special Forces A-Team. Mr. Roberts returned to the United States in 1969 and resigned from the Army at the end of that same year. For his actions in combat, he was awarded the Silver Star, two Bronze Stars with V device, a Purple Heart, the Air Medal, the South Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm, and a Combat Infantryman’s Badge. For his non-combatant service, he received an Army Commendation Medal, a Joint Services Commendation Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal, and a Vietnam Campaign Medal, as well as Airborne, Ranger, Special Forces, and Expert Infantryman qualifications.

After leaving the Army, Mr. Roberts joined Schlumberger Ltd., and moved with his family to Paris, France. He subsequently spent ten years in Europe, where he held financial and managerial positions with the Company. In 1979, he again returned to the United States, where he was appointed Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer of Schlumberger Ltd.. Eighteen months later, he was named Chief Executive Officer of Schlumberger's global electronics group with regional headquarters in San Francisco, Paris, and Singapore. Residing primarily in the San Francisco Bay area, he managed these businesses until 1985. During the time Mr. Roberts spent with Schlumberger, its six-man, executive management team was named numerous times by business publications like Fortune and stock market analysts as one of the five best management organizations in the United States and Europe. From 1985 until 1989, Mr. Roberts was involved in the restructuring and financial turn-around of Control Data Corporation in Minneapolis.

Retiring from corporate life at the beginning of 1989, Mr. Roberts has spent the past thirty-two years as an “angel” investor, providing mezzanine financing to qualified, early-stage, start-up ventures. Additionally, he has served as a Director on more than twenty corporate boards in both the private and public sectors of the electronics, financial technology, digital advertising, and healthcare industries. Until its sale in April of 2016, Mr. Roberts was Chairman of Pensco, Inc., a private, San Francisco-based, fin-tech enterprise in which he held a prominent ownership position. He has been a guest lecturer at the business school of Texas State University in San Marcos and at his alma mater at West Point. He holds a bachelor’s degree in civil, mechanical, electronic, hydrodynamic, and thermodynamic engineering.

After living for many years in Paris, London, New York, Singapore, and San Francisco, Tom and Trecia moved to the Towers of Town Lake in 1992, residing first in a townhome before relocating to C Tower. Since then, Tom has served as a director on six different HOA boards and as President, or President-Emeritus, on three of those boards. The Roberts’ have four children and eight grandchildren, none of whom live in Austin.

A private inurnment will take place at the West Point Cemetery in the Fall. In lieu of flowers the family is requesting memorial donations be sent to Music for Life Institute, PO Box 29690, Bellingham, WA 982228-1690. This organization provides education for children in Africa. Tom was passionate about the program that has given many a new way forward in life. Please annotate with ‘in Memory of Thomas C Roberts’, so the gift will be acknowledged in honor of him.