A Visionary Entrepreneur Driven by a Passion for Positive Impact
With a spirit and commitment to making a positive impact in various sectors. Being multi-talented, Tom’s journey to success illustrates his entrepreneurial spirit and enthusiasm for making an effective contribution with his various skills.
In his six decades of career, he has contributed to various sectors, including Steel and Manufacturing, Venture Capital, Data Analytics and Nature-Based Non-Profit and Consulting organizations.
In 2010, he co-founded Great Lakes Biomimicry (GLBio), where he is the Co-founder, a 501(c)(3) organization that merged with the Ohio Aerospace Institute to expand its reach, helping businesses and educational institutions apply biomimetic thinking for innovation.
Tom Tyrrell’s entrepreneurial drive continued as he founded another company and became Co–founder of CollaboRx, a pro-bono advisory and consulting firm focused on nature-based non-profits addressing social drivers of health.
The CollaboRx Nature-Based Education Alliance aims to reduce social determinants of health for underserved PK–6th grade students and retain girls in STEM. Inspired by his experience with GLBio, he saw the transformative impact of nature-based education on children’s academic performance and behavioral health.
Tom’s philosophy is deeply influenced by his upbringing and role models, especially his parents, emphasizing hard work, community involvement, and caring for others. This ethos drives his efforts to make a lasting impact, as encapsulated by a quote from 1850 poet Albert Pine, “What you do for yourself alone dies with you; what you do for others and the world remains and is immortal.” Tom’s vision has not only shaped successful businesses but also left a legacy of meaningful impact.
Let us learn more about his journey:
Journey to Success
Tom started his career at Bethlehem Steel and achieved two promotions at the earliest age in the company’s history. In 1978, he co-founded a New Jersey steel mill, reaching $250 million within eight years.
Recognizing the need for personal change, he restarted the American Steel & Wire in Cleveland, Ohio, ultimately supplying the highest-quality rod and wire products in the nation and reaching $350 million in revenues in just eight years. During this time, he also co-founded Business Volunteers Unlimited (BVU), a 501(c)(3) organization that developed volunteers from the Northeast Ohio business community to support understaffed non-profit organizations and train young professionals to become skilled board members.
Tyrrell’s entrepreneurial spirit continued to shine as he co-founded Glengary Capital, a venture catalyst; Segmint, a data analytics organization; and CollaboRx, a pro-bono advisory and consulting firm focused on identifying, collaborating, and integrating nature-based non-profit organizations to address social drivers of health, particularly for underserved populations.
In 2010, Tyrrell co-founded Great Lakes Biomimicry (GLBio), a 501(c)(3) organization that helped businesses, universities, and educational institutions learn from nature and apply biomimetic thinking as an innovation tool. GLBio later merged with the Ohio Aerospace Institute, expanding its reach and impact.
His latest venture, CollaboRx, is a formal non-profit organization (501(c)(3) application pending) with a mission to reduce social determinants of health for underserved populations through nature-based education. By assembling a consortium of 16 impactful, unique, and leading informal nature-based education organizations in Northeast Ohio, CollaboRx aims to develop best practices and weave consistent messages into the fabric of their educational programs, harnessing the healing power of repetitive, passion-based learning, and then taking the process and program to other cities and states in the US..
A Visionary Driving Impactful Initiatives
At 25 years old, he determined his life should be guided as if he were writing a book. A good writer knows the ending they wish to achieve and makes sure each chapter of their book leads the reader to that significant ending. In your life, each major decision you make – such as jobs, family, relocation, volunteering, etc. – becomes a chapter, and if you know the ending you want to achieve, you determine if that decision fit the ending you desire. Using that approach, you are responsible to make sure that all your decisions, in some way, fit the ending. As the oldest of six children, he was raised in a family where his dad, who didn’t finish ninth grade, worked three jobs and physically built a home, while his mom taught first grade for 37 years, He had great role models who worked incredibly hard, volunteered in the community, and cared about others more than themselves.
Those lessons drove him to work smarter and harder to achieve success; his goal was to make every person better off than if they hadn’t met him, and thus create a palpable and long-lasting change in the world.
Shortly after the millennium, his wife, Diane, presented him with a quote from 1850’s poet Albert Pine, typifying his and her (44-year critical care nursing career) philosophy of life: “What you do for yourself alone dies with you; what you do for others and the world remains and is immortal.” That thought guides them and why it is also on their gravestone, to enable them to continue to impact people long after they are gone.
BVU, his first non-profit start-up, now in its 31st year, and recognized as the largest volunteer organization of its kind in the US, has assisted 3,400 non-profit organizations, engaged 373,000 service volunteers, trained and placed 4,000 board members, served 500 businesses, and supported 1,900 skills-based volunteer projects.
And GLBio, the second not-for-profit, now 14 years old, has worked with 25+ major corporations through a partnership with the University of Akron (training an equal number of global PhDs); engaged with numerous K–12 students, introducing many to the world of nature for the first time; and helped numerous mid-sized companies learn how to ask “what would nature do” when confronting R&D and Product Design issues. One such organization, Nottingham Spirk, a significant innovative global design firm, with over 1500 patents (and a 95% commercialization rate!), utilizes biomimicry as a question they review with each of their clients!
Visionary Approach to Addressing Social Determinants of Health
Tom’s latest endeavor, the CollaboRx Nature Based Education Alliance, aims to minimize the social determinants of health for PK–6th grade underserved populations and retain girls in STEM. Inspired by his previous experience with Great Lakes Biomimicry (GLBio), where he witnessed the transformative impact of nature-based education on children’s academic performance, attendance, and behavioral health, Tom saw an opportunity to create a more comprehensive and sustainable solution.
Recognizing the limitations of trying to change the traditional school system, he seized the moment when the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, one of the many nature-based boards of which he is a member, announced the construction of a $120 million Primate Forest project, with the tagline “This Primate Forest project is not about the primates, but about the forest.” This catalyst enabled him to assemble a consortium of 16 impactful, unique, and leading informal nature-based education organizations in Northeast Ohio to develop best practices and weave consistent messages into their educational programs, thus building repetitive nature-based learning opportunities for underserved populations.
Biomimicry: Unlocking Nature’s Secrets for Innovative Solutions
Biomimicry’s potential is unlimited. Nature has spent 3.8 billion years of research and development, and, withstanding annihilation events, failures are fossils, and what remains holds the secret to our survival.
Biomimicry enables us to create products, processes, and systems to solve our greatest design challenges without further jeopardizing life on Earth. Nature inspires more and more solutions every year, and the menu of accomplishments is expanding rapidly.
Several well-known or unique examples include burr seeds inspiring Velcro; kingfisher, owl, and penguins inspiring the Bullet Train; mussels inspiring underwater adhesive; bird wings inspiring human flight; mosquito proboscis inspiring a less painful needle; and termite mounds inspiring buildings that cool themselves.
Bridging the gap between business innovation and social impact
His focus varied as his career(s) advanced. Of course, profit motives were a major driver, but developing a unique team culture, which included caring about employees, involving them in unique ways, creating an encompassing and stimulating culture, and treating them as family remained paramount.
Along with never ignoring sustainable practices and nature, increasing profits and income to advance each company as a gateway to its next step, was critical.
From 1986 onwards, he started leading his organizations, but always maintained board involvement, both active and philanthropic, with many non-profits, several of which he founded and continued to help be successful.
Collaboration in addressing complex societal issues
Tom’s entire life focused on collaboration; to him, it came naturally. His secret to starting a business or non-profit, was to concentrate on what he did well, not on what he didn’t know (the downfall of many entrepreneurs), and hire the strongest people, smarter at those skills than him, while building a strong sense of trust, getting them engaged with a shared vision, and letting them operate their area of expertise, keeping him aware of what he needed to know. Thus, his skills in evaluating and selecting team members have been the strongest and most significant factor in helping him achieve his accomplishments.
Navigating challenges to drive positive change
While facing certain challenges in the industry, he believes a person simply cannot handle everything themselves, regardless of organizational size. People skills, creating a culture, and recognizing and gratifying each person’s contribution are skills no technology will replace.
Selecting and treating team members as you would like to be treated yourself enhances quality and customer care more than focusing on those objectives alone. Striving to become the best you can and identifying an organizational need to make yourself invaluable and indispensable are keys to success. Make everything you do the best it can be—do it right or don’t do it at all.
Aligning CollaboRx Nature-Based Education with STEM
Capturing children’s minds in the PK–6th grades is key. As examples, observe children doing incredible things with a skateboard, dirt bike, golf club, basketball, and tennis racquet. If they have a mentor coaching them, they will develop a passion by repeating the process, correctly, over and over and ultimately be carried through their lives successfully..
CollaboRx’s initiative focuses on getting children involved in educational passions at a young age, which can facilitate critical thinking to be developed earlier than most people think realistically occurs. Our nation is working to mitigate social determinants of health by eliminating food deserts; presenting skilled job training opportunities; making stable housing available; and offering physical, mental and addiction integrated behavioral health services. But we, as a nation, are missing the opportunity of positioning young minds, especially underserved populations, become prepared to help change the world. We need generational change to move from correctively dealing with social determinants of health, moving gradually to preventive and finally to proactive approaches. Adults are not going to change the world – it can only be done by our children. This is what CollaboRx does!
CollaboRx’s vision I to not only offer children opportunities to develop a passion, but also mentors, enabling them to accomplish things they have little chance to achieve today.
Advice from a Visionary Leader: Encouraging Meaningful Impact
Tom emphasizes the importance of caring about others more than oneself, using wealth as a vehicle to support the less fortunate, and making decisions with a long-term, purpose-driven mindset.
He encourages aspiring leaders to determine what they want their legacy to be and then align every chapter of their life’s “book” to reflect that vision. He believes that true gratification comes not from monetary gain, but from the moments when a former team member approaches you, expressing heartfelt gratitude for the positive impact you’ve had on their life.
Tom’s wisdom underscores the importance of staying connected to reality, embracing the power of human connection, and recognizing that the true measure of a life well-lived is the number of people one has loved and impacted, and the number of people who have loved them in return.
Leaving a lasting legacy through your work and initiatives
Tom’s boundless energy and passion for making a difference have guided him through incredible predicaments in every organization he has started. He believes he was put on this earth to improve the lives of others, a mission he has pursued relentlessly for the past 40 plus years.
After moving to Ohio and serving on nearly 30 non-profit boards, he brings his organizational skills, enhanced focus, and fundraising expertise to each organization he joins. He sees his purpose as enhancing the board’s effectiveness, engaging new and highly skilled members, expanding their philanthropic outreach, and then moving on to the next opportunity, always striving to create lasting change.
As the founder of five successful for-profit and three non-profit organizations, his legacy will continue to impact people long after he is gone. His commitment to making a difference, guided by the wisdom of Albert Pine’s quote, has shaped his life of purpose, impact, and gratitude.
