Conversations at CAMD with Richard Saul Wurman and Tom Scott, Co-founder of Nantucket Nectars
Tom Scott emerged as an entrepreneur at a young age when he started selling provisions to people stuck in the gas lines in his native Maryland. When Scott and his college pal, Tom First tried mixing peach juice and water in a blender in 1989, they did not imagine their little experiment would result in the creation of a multi-million dollar company. Yet that is exactly what happened with Nantucket Nectars in less than 10 years. The tale of how “Tom and Tom” flourished in the highly competitive beverage industry demonstrates the power of entrepreneurial drive and creative spirit to transform a dream into a reality. Nantucket Nectars quickly grew to national prominence, putting it on the “Inc. 500” list of fastest growing U.S. companies for five years in a row. Scott’s groundbreaking work as CEO garnered him several awards and accolades, including the Mercury Award for Advertising, Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year award, several leadership and design awards, and was featured in the documentary film “Lemonade Stories.”
In 2002, Tom and his partner sold Nantucket Nectars to Cadbury Schweppes. Following Nantucket Nectars, Tom began a career in film and television. In 2004 he formed Plum TV with a group of partners and took on the role of Chairman. Plum owned and operated a network of stations around the country and received more than 14 Emmy awards.
Tom’s work in media also grew to include a number of credits among which are those as creator and producer of numerous television ads for companies such as Nike, BMW and Bank of America. He also created and produced the HBO television series The Neistat Brothers. In 2010 Tom produced the feature-length film Daddy Longlegs which received the rare double honor of being selected to both the Cannes and Sundance Film Festivals. His work on Daddy Longlegs also won Tom an Independent Spirit award. Most recently Tom produced and released a documentary film entitled Apple Pushers featuring the actor Ed Norton.
Currently Tom is focused on The Nantucket Project which he co-founded last year. The goal of The Nantucket Project is to bring together leaders from a wide range of disciplines to explore the most relevant, cutting-edge ideas and examine the implications they have for culture, society and business. Speakers at the 2011 event included Eric Schmidt, Larry Summers, Dean Kamen, Rahm Emaunuel and Craig Venter, among others.
Tom is enrolled at the Yale Divinity School where he is a candidate in the Master of Divinity program. He received a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University. He currently lives in Connecticut with his wife, Emily and their two sons. Tom is an avid pilot and surfer.
Partners: Northeastern Center for the Arts, Art + Design
Richard Saul Wurman
Founder of the TED conference, Richard Saul Wurman, Distinguished Professor of the Practice of Design in the College of Arts, Media and Design at Northeastern University, has curated this series of improvisational one-to-one conversations with some of the world’s most fascinating thinkers, doers & intellectual leaders. Mr. Wurman describes these improvisational conversations as a form of “intellectual jazz.”