Congressional Spotlight: Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC)

Each month The Nonprofit Alliance (TNPA) introduces you to a member of Congress who is a leader on legislative matters important to our TNPA community, with representation from both parties.

What was the moment you realized you were serious about getting into public service?

When my wife Susan and I lived in Cornelius, NC just outside of Charlotte, I advocated to build a mountain bike trail in our community, but was blocked by our local representative. I decided afterward that he wasn’t representing his constituents very well, so I decided to run against him and we actually ended up with the same number of votes in the next election so I won by a coin-flip, and the rest is history.

Describe your life in six words.

Hardworking and determined to help people.

More About Senator Thom Tillis

TNPA has worked closely with Senator Thom Tillis.

Senator Tillis took an unconventional path to public office. After growing up in a working-class family, which required his parents to often move to find work, Senator Tillis was unable to afford college. He worked hard while raising a family and going to school at night. He understood firsthand the challenges many American families face. With a strong work ethic, he quickly moved up the corporate ladder, earning his bachelor’s degree at 36 and ultimately becoming a top-level executive at PriceWaterhouseCoopers and IBM. His 29-year private sector career in technology and management consulting provided him with a deep understanding of policy-making and the management of complex organizations.

Fueled by a desire to make a difference in his local community, the Senator’s involvement in public service began by serving as the PTA president of his daughter’s high school and as a member of the town of Cornelius, NC’s Board of Commissioners. Then in 2006, he was elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives and was selected by his peers to serve as the Speaker of the House from 2011 to 2014. As Speaker, he played an instrumental role in enacting job-creating policies and reforming North Carolina’s tax and regulatory statutes. He was then elected to the U.S. Senate in 2014 and re-elected to a second six-year term in 2020.

In the Senate he serves on four committees – the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, the Committee on Finance, the Committee on Judiciary, and the Committee on Veterans Affairs. In the Senate he has been a leader on a variety of issues, including passing legislation to combat sex abuse and human trafficking, passing comprehensive bipartisan legislation to improve veterans’ access to timely quality care, and working across the aisle to advance disease research and provide funding and find cures for cancer, Alzheimer’s, and other conditions. We at The Nonprofit Alliance know Senator Tillis best for his work on the responsible use of data. With his long business career, the Senator is one of the most knowledgeable members of the Senate on the key role data plays for all organizations, particularly for the nonprofit community, which relies on data for both identifying potential donors, as well as carrying out our vital missions.

TNPA looks forward to continuing to work closely with Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina.