Tom Szaky's Biography

Born in Budapest, Hungary in 1982, Tom Szaky emigrated from Hungary to Holland. In 1989 he and his family emigrated again from Holland to Canada. At 14 he started his first business, a web design company called Flyte Design, which employed three associates and earned its young proprietor a five-figure income. Flyte Design also earned a number of Canadian national design awards. Tom then engaged in the start-up of three small 'dot.com' companies: Werehome.com (an online home improvement site), piority.com (an online fundraising school), and studentmarks.com (an online grade tracking software).

While in secondary school, Tom was also active in community service and philanthropy. As a third-year student, he cycled solo from Toronto to Vancouver to raise $4000 for the environmental organization Ontario Naturalists, setting a national speed record of 21 days for such a bike ride. As a fourth-year student, he organized and directed a full-scale fashion show, managing a volunteer staff of 200 people, which raised $35,000.

Tom came to the United States in 2001 when he matriculated as a freshman at Princeton University. In 2002, he took a leave of absence to dedicate himself full-time to starting TerraCycle, Inc., beginning as a two man outfit in the crowded basement of an old office building in Princeton.

Today, Tom Szaky serves as TerraCycle's 25 year old CEO and has been interviewed numerous times by several prestigious, international news organizations such as CNN, Business Week, Time and CEO Magazine and many other niche and local news publications. Contrary to what you might be thinking, Tom's mission is not to merely save the environment. His mission is to prove that you can make a lot of money while saving the environment. Tom Szaky is a very savvy businessman. In his own words, "I'm here to show that I can make a tremendous amount of money for my investors. The consumer wins by not having to pay more. The retailer wins by getting great margins. My shareholders win because we grow the company at 400 percent a year consistently and we're doing that in the most eco-friendly way possible."

And, if his business accomplishments to date aren't enough to impress you, consider this: Wired Blog classified Tom as a "Sexy Geek" and had this to say about him:

"We love Tom Szaky for his way with worm poop. He's the 24-year-old founder of TerraCycle, which makes plant food made entirely of waste — including the packaging. That's hot — and look at his cute spiky hair..." (December 13, 2006)