Early Life
Thomas Secunda was born in Bethpage, New York, in 1954. He displayed an early aptitude for mathematics and technology. He graduated from Binghamton University with Bachelor's and Master's degrees in mathematics. He is of Jewish descent.
Rise to Success
Secunda began his career as a programmer and later worked as a fixed-income trader at Morgan Stanley. He also worked as a systems researcher at Salomon Brothers, where he met Michael Bloomberg. In 1982, he co-founded Innovative Market Systems, which was later renamed Bloomberg L.P. in 1987, along with Michael Bloomberg, Duncan MacMillan, and Charles Zegar. The company revolutionized financial markets with its Bloomberg Terminal, with Secunda developing key fixed-income analytics tools. He built many of the company's financial products, most notably its lucrative terminal business.
Key Business Strategies
Secunda played an instrumental role in building the Bloomberg Terminal, the world's most powerful technology platform for financial professionals seeking real-time news, data, and analytics. He serves as the global head of Bloomberg's Financial Products and Services, where his primary responsibility is to help Bloomberg develop new features and tools for the Bloomberg Professional service, the company's primary product. He was appointed vice chairman of Bloomberg L.P. in July 2011. Secunda holds a 4% stake in Bloomberg LP. Terminals account for an estimated two-thirds of Bloomberg LP's nearly $15 billion in estimated revenue.
Philanthropy
Secunda and his wife Cindy are signatories of the Giving Pledge. The beneficiaries of the couple's charitable giving are primarily organizations that focus on national parks, local parks, conservation, healthcare, and Jewish causes. He has been deeply involved in reconstruction efforts in the U.S. Virgin Islands following devastating hurricanes in 2017. In 2012, he was awarded the Simon Wiesenthal Center's award for his philanthropic work.