Tom Soma

Nonprofit Leader & Soulful Conversation Catalyst

Tom Soma is a writer, poet, and longtime nonprofit leader whose articles have appeared in PORTLAND magazine, The Oregonian, Full-Time Dads, Mothering, and Spirituality & Health. He is also the author of No Small Thing—and Other Periodic Musings, a collection of essays set at the Ronald McDonald House, and The Secret Ingredient—More Musings from the Ronald McDonald Houses, published by NewSouth Books.

His professional career began with a year of volunteer service at a legal clinic, followed by two years caring for emotionally disturbed children in a residential treatment center. He later worked in higher education fundraising at the University of Portland and Lewis & Clark College.

Between those roles, he devoted eight years to part-time writing and the full-time parenting of his three daughters, who initially provided rich inspiration and later rewarded him with five grandchildren. In 1999, he was appointed executive director of Ronald McDonald House Charities® of Oregon and Southwest Washington, which he led for fifteen years. From 2016 to 2019, he directed Children’s Center in Oregon City, Oregon, a child abuse intervention center.

A Michigan native and 1979 graduate of the University of Notre Dame, he lived in Portland, Oregon, for forty-two years before moving with his wife to St. Petersburg, Florida, in 2021.