About Thom

Mr. Weisel has served on the boards of NASDAQ, Stanford Endowment Management, Harvard Business School Advisory, the New York Museum of Modern Art and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

in Business

Thomas Weisel is an entrepreneur, business builder and philanthropist. He has formed two companies: Montgomery Securities and Thomas Weisel Partners, which, over the course of 37 years, helped define the landscape of Silicon Valley.

Mr. Weisel grew Montgomery Securities into a $700 million revenue company. Montgomery Securities was known for identifying, researching and financing growth companies. The firm helped grow as well as manage many IPOs for many significant growth companies in Technology, Healthcare, Consumer, and Financial Services including: Amgen, Glyco Med, JDS Uniphase, Micron Technologies, Yahoo, Stratacom, Staples and Lonestar Steakhouse and Saloon.

Montgomery’s distinctive competences were its thought leadership, unique ability to make its institutional clients money, the ability to attract the best in class personnel, magnetic growth conferences, and athletic cache.

In 1997, Montgomery Securities was sold to Nations Bank/Bank of America.

In 1999, Mr. Weisel launched Thomas Weisel Partners (TWP), which was backed by several leading venture capital firms in Silicon Valley. In its first full year of operation, TWP produced roughly $500 million in revenue, making it the fastest startup in the history of the financial service industry. Mr. Weisel was named Investment Banker of the Year by Investment Dealers’ Digest in 2000. Mr. Weisel was named Executive of the Year by the SF Business Times in 1999. He was awarded the Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship in 2002.

In 2010, Thomas Weisel Partners was sold to Stifel Financial Company. Mr. Weisel is currently Co-Chairman of Stifel Financial, a $3.5 billion revenue company with a $4 billion market cap. As part of their curriculum, Harvard Business School and Yale School of Management have each published case studies and taught classes on Thomas Weisel Partners (2000-2007).

Mr. Weisel has spoken at Harvard Business School Forum for Entrepreneurship. Mr. Weisel received the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006 from the National Venture Capital Association. He was a board member of NASDAQ from 2002-2006. In addition, he was on the Advisory Board of Harvard Business School (HBS) from 2007-2009.

in Sports

Thomas Weisel has been passionate about competitive sports since his youth, both as a participant and later in leadership roles for skiing and cycling.

Accomplishments in Sport

1955-59	Five-time US National Junior Champion in Speed Skating
1959	Third in US Olympic Trials for 500 meter in Speed Skating
1977	Joins US Ski Team Educational Foundation Board
1982	Third overall in US National Master Alpine Championship
1983	Becomes President of USSEF
1985	Start Montgomery Cycling Team
1988	Plays key role in consolidation of US Ski Team with US Ski Association
1989	Wins 2 Gold Medals in Cycling Kilo & Sprint in World Master Games in Finland / Sets US National Age Record for 1k in Cycling
1990	Wins 2 Gold Medals in US National Masters Cycling in Criterion & Sprint
1991	Wins 3 Gold Medals in US National Masters Cycling Criterion, Sprint & Kilo / Wins Gold in World Cup Masters Cycling in Kilo
1991	Named Masters Athlete of the Year for US Cycling
1994	Steps down as US Ski Association President, but retains role as one of team's strongest supporters
1999	Receives the United States Ski Association Julius Blegen Award, its highest honor
2000	Forms US Cycling Foundation & Champions Club & reorganizes US Cycling entire governance & joins new US Cycling Board
2001	Established the San Francisco Grand Prix Cycling race which 400,000 spectators attended
2009	USSA unveils its Center of Excellence National Training & Educational Facility, named Weisel as one of its most influential leaders
2010	US Ski and Snowboard Team wins a record 21 medals at the Vancouver Olympics
2011	Receives the USOC's prestigious George Steinbrenner Award for outstanding contributions to sport through management and sport organization endeavors
2014	US athletes win 17 medals, including a record 8 gold medals, at Sochi Olympics, Weisel tenth as a top supporter
2017	USSA trustees endow the Head Men's Alpine coaching position in Weisel's name
2018	Inducted in US Ski Hall of Fame

Mr. Weisel has been on the US Ski and Snowboard Team Board since 1977 and was the Chairman from 1983-1994. During his tenure he reorganized the national governing body of skiing by merging the United States Ski Association with the US Ski Team, revamping its governance, board structure, and funding. He is responsible for attracting many of the current board members who serve today. Since then, the US Ski Team has captured more Olympic medals than any other nation. Mr. Weisel was awarded the Belgen Award in 1999 by the US Ski Team for his contributions to the sport. Mr. Weisel was also inducted into the USSA Hall of Fame in April of 2018.

Mr. Weisel is the Founder of the US Cycling Foundation, has been a member of the Board since 2000, and is the board’s current Chairman. He reorganized the US Cycling Federation board on which he served for a year. He changed the size and composition of the board, reorganized its governance, strategic planning, and funding model.

Over the course of the last 20 years, annual revenue for US Cycling has gone from $ 5.5 million to $15 million, memberships have grown from 30,000 to 54,000, and member clubs have increased from 1,100 to 2,200.

With regard to Lance Armstrong’s doping and the litigation surrounding this matter, Mr. Weisel testified under oath that he did not know about Armstrong’s doping activities. Not one of these athletes who has recently admitted to doping – in the books they have authorized, in interviews, in affidavits they have submitted to the United States Anti-Doping Agency, or in testimony they have given – has ever said that Armstrong ever discussed doping with Mr. Weisel, let alone that Mr. Weisel encouraged or condoned doping by US Postal Service team members. After a two-year-plus investigation into the allegations in a whistleblower lawsuit filed on behalf of the United States by Floyd Landis against Armstrong, the team’s coach, Johann Bruyneel, Mr. Armstrong’s business managers, and Mr. Weisel, the Department of Justice declined to intervene in the case against Mr. Weisel. Mr. Weisel then moved to dismiss all of Landis’s claims against him and, in 2014, the court granted Mr. Weisel’s motion and dismissed the claims against Mr. Weisel.

For his efforts in skiing and cycling, Mr. Weisel was awarded the Olympic Foundation Steinbrenner Award in 2011.
In 2017, U.S. Ski & Snowboard created an endowed coaching chair position
The Thomas Weisel Head Alpine Coach Endowment was generously funded and created by several Trustees to commemorate his contributions to the sport.

Thom Weisel’s four decades of support has been instrumental in US Ski & Snowboard athletes winning 93 Olympic medals. Thank you, Thom, and congratulations on becoming an honored member of the Hall of Fame.

-United States Ski & Snowboard Association

As a high-finance banker with an elite athletic background, Thom Weisel’s passion, vision and fundraising lifted US skiing efforts to their highest level.

-US Ski Hall of Fame

in Art

Mr. Weisel serves on the board of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). He is currently Chairman of the Committee on Trustees, a post he has held for seven years. Mr. Weisel is also on the SFMOMA Executive Committee and the Tech Committee. Mr. Weisel also served on the Board of Trustees of the New York Museum of Modern Art (NYMOMA) from 1996 to 2011.

Mr. Weisel has gifted or promised numerous art pieces to the SFMOMA and NYMOMA from his personal collection including works by Mark Grotjahn, Wayne Thiebaud, Joan Brown, Richard Serra, Andreas Gursky, Mark Bradford, Nathan Oliveira and others.

In 2014, Mr. Weisel donated approximately 200 pieces of art from his Native American collection to the de Young Fine Arts Museum in San Francisco and established a research grant to enhance the study, appreciation, or presentation of Native American Art.

Exhibition space in de Young museum established in 2014 for the Thomas W. Weisel Family Collection of North American Art.

Shield, ca. 1820–1850. Acoma or Jemez, Hide and pigment. 20 x 20 in. (50.8 x 50.8 cm). Gift of the Thomas W. Weisel Family to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Serape, ca. 1855–1860. Navajo, Wool; weft-faced plain weave, interlocked tapestry weave, eccentric weft. 70 1/2 x 54 1/2 in. (179.1 x 138.4 cm). Gift of the Thomas W. Weisel Family to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Serape, ca. 1865. Navajo, Wool; weft-faced plain weave, interlocked tapestry weave, eccentric curved weft. 70 1/2 x 50 3/4 in. (179.1 x 128.9 cm). Gift of the Thomas W. Weisel Family to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Poncho serape, ca. 1830. Navajo, Wool; weft-faced plain weave, interlocked tapestry weave. 78 x 51 in. (198.1 x 129.5 cm). Gift of the Thomas W. Weisel Family to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Wearing blanket (first-phase chief blanket, Ute style), ca. 1830. Navajo, Wool; weft-faced plain weave, dovetail and diagonal-join tapestry weave, eccentric curved weft. 52 x 70 in. (132.1 x 177.8 cm). Gift of the Thomas W. Weisel Family to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Serape, ca. 1850. Navajo, Wool; weft-faced plain weave, interlocked tapestry weave, eccentric curved weft. 91 x 62 in. (231.1 x 157.5 cm). Gift of the Thomas W. Weisel Family to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Tray, ca. 1890. Yavapai-Apache, Fiber. 4 5/16 x 14 1/16 in. (11 x 35.7 cm).Gift of the Thomas W. Weisel Family to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Water jar, ca. 1890–1910. Acoma, Earthenware with polychrome. 11 5/8 x 11 13/16 in. (29.5 x 30 cm). Gift of the Thomas W. Weisel Family to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Olla, ca. 1880. Hopi, Earthenware with polychrome. 10 1/16 x 13 3/8 in. (25.5 x 34 cm). Gift of the Thomas W. Weisel Family to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Vessel, ca. 1890–1910. Attributed to Nampeyo (Hopi-Tewa, ca. 1860–1942), Earthenware with polychrome. 7 1/2 x 15 3/8 in. (19 x 39 cm). Gift of the Thomas W. Weisel Family to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Water jar, ca. 1850–1870. Trios, Earthenware with polychrome. 10 3/4 x 12 13/16 in. (27.3 x 32.5 cm). Gift of the Thomas W. Weisel Family to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Bowl (two faces and insects), ca. 1010–1130. Mimbres, Earthenware with pigment. 4 3/4 x 10 1/16 in. (12 x 25.5 cm). Gift of the Thomas W. Weisel Family to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Bowl (figure inside fish), ca. 1010–1130. Mimbres, Earthenware with pigment. 4 1/2 x 10 1/4 in. (11.5 x 26 cm). Gift of the Thomas W. Weisel Family to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Bowl (human-avian composite), ca. 1010–1130. Mimbres, Earthenware with pigment. 4 x 9 3/4 in. (10.1 x 24.7 cm). Gift of the Thomas W. Weisel Family to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Jar, ca. 1450–1500. Sikyatki, Earthenware with polychrone. 5 11/16 x 9 1/16 in. (14.5 x 23 cm). Gift of the Thomas W. Weisel Family to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Mask, ca. 1800–1850. Tsimshian, Wood and pigment; shell inlay. 10 1/16 x 8 1/16 x 5 1/8 in. (25.5 x 20.5 x 13 cm). Gift of the Thomas W. Weisel Family to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Bear effigy, ca. 1870. Haida, Wood and paint. 29 1/2 x 20 7/8 x 44 1/2 in. (75 x 53 x 113 cm). Gift of the Thomas W. Weisel Family to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Seated figure, late 19th century. Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka'wakw), Wood and paint. 55 11/16 x 19 11/16 x 21 5/8 in. (141.5 x 50 x 55 cm). Gift of the Thomas W. Weisel Family to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Bowl (bird and rabbit), ca. 1010–1130. Mimbres, Earthenware with pigment. 4 5/16 x 10 5/8 in. (11 x 27 cm). Gift of the Thomas W. Weisel Family to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Vessel, ca. 1450–1500. Sikyatki, Earthenware with polychrome. 8 11/16 x 17 1/2 in. (22 x 44.5 cm). Gift of the Thomas W. Weisel Family to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Mr. Weisel established The Thomas Weisel Family Art Foundation to oversee the various gifts and endowments he has made in order to ensure they are maintained by the museum in a manner consistent with the original gift agreement and its charitable intent. Thomas Weisel and his family have established substantial relationships with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the de Young Museum of Fine Arts. The Foundation intends to continue to support these institutions.