Biography – Tom Holland for Kansas Governor

As a small business owner and entrepreneur, Tom Holland understands the challenges of running a business in a dynamic environment and the need to offer superior customer service. He founded Holland Technologies, Inc., an Information Technology consulting and professional services firm, in 1992 and serves as the company’s president. Holland Technologies, Inc. provides IT project management, software development and network engineering services for its customers.

A native Midwesterner, Tom Holland grew up in Indianapolis. He received a degree of Bachelor of Science in Business at Indiana University and subsequently received a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Minnesota. In 1991, Holland, his wife Barbara and their three young sons came to Kansas so that Tom could work on a major IT systems initiative at the ATSF railway. Tom and Barbara subsequently bought a home in southern Douglas County in 1993 because they saw Kansas as a land of long term opportunity – a place to start their new business and put their children in the best public schools.

As a parent of school-aged children, Holland watched his children’s classrooms become over-crowded. A problem solver by nature, Holland ran for the Kansas House in 2002 on a platform to properly fund K-12 education and was elected.

Holland served the families of Kansas’ 10th House District from 2003-2009. In 2009, he became a State Senator representing the 3rd District in rural Douglas, Leavenworth and Jefferson Counties. He presently serves as the ranking minority member on the Senate Assessment and Taxation, Business & Labor and Commerce committees and also serves on the Financial Institutions and Insurance committee.

As a State Representative, Tom received recognition in 2003 from the Kansas Disability Caucus for leadership in addressing the need to fund programs for people with disabilities. He presently serves as the Vice Chair of the Kansas Small Business Development Center Advisory Board and also serves on the board of directors for both Kansas, Inc. and KTEC.

Tom is an active member of Plymouth Congregational Church in Lawrence, KS where he previously served as the Annual Appeal chairman, chairman of the Stewardship Committee and music director of the alternative worship service. He currently plays upright bass with the Plymouth Strings group.

An active community leader and parent, Tom has coached youth baseball teams for several years in Lawrence and also served as a Cub Scouts den leader. Tom and his wife of nearly 29 years, Barbara, have four children: Thomas (University of Kansas graduate), Derek (Baker University graduate), Brandon (University of Kansas Junior), and Louisa (eighth grader).


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Holland has over 27 years of experience in the Information Technology industry and is a certified Project Management Professional. His organization received Deloitte & Touche’s Technology “Fast Fifty” Award for Kansas and Western Missouri for both 1999 and 2000. Before starting his business, Holland was an Executive Account Systems Engineer for IBM and later served as a manager for Price Waterhouse Management Consulting Services.