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Tom Oxholm was recently honored and celebrated as the recipient of the 2025 Jay Robinson Education Leadership Award. This prestigious award is named in honor of the late Dr. Jay Robinson, one of our state’s most distinguished education leaders and the first president of the Public School Forum of North Carolina. Oxholm received the award alongside EdNC’s CEO Mebane Rash.
Oxholm has demonstrated a decades-long commitment to strengthening public schools in Wake County and across North Carolina.
Bill Seyler, a business colleague, says Oxholm is visionary, seeing since his own children attended public schools that “for schools to be successful in the future that the business community was going to have to be part of that process.”
Tony Habit, an education leader in North Carolina, says Oxholm’s leadership is exemplary because “he recruits others, and he provides the example that gives others the confidence to know that they can get involved and they can make a profound difference.”
As a business leader, former Wake County School Board member, and longtime advocate, Oxholm has dedicated over 30 years to ensuring students receive the support they need to thrive.
Oxholm serves as the executive vice president of Wake Stone, where he as worked since 1986.
Most recently, in 2023, Oxholm spearheaded a business summit, convening executives from more than 75 businesses and 40 counties from across North Carolina to discuss the state of public education in the aftermath of school choice expansion.
“As business leaders, we understand that success for an organization demands the retention of great employees, a strong talent pipeline, adequate resources, and smart financial policies. Our school systems — the largest employers in most counties — need the same,” said Oxholm at the summit.
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He founded the first Business Alliance in Wake County in 1992, an initiative that has since expanded to over 40 alliances and 25 academies, directly connecting students and educators with career pathways.
He served on the Wake County Board of Education from 1999-2003.
In 2008, he co-authored, “A School District’s Journey to Excellence, Lessons from Business and Education,” with former Wake County Public Schools Superintendent and National Superintendent of the Year Bill McNeal, who presented Oxholm with the Robinson Award.
“Oxholm has more than 30 years of supporting and elevating the academic, emotional, and social growth of public school children in Wake County, and he still volunteers in a second grade classroom,” says McNeal.
Oxholm served on the Public School Forum’s board of directors for six years from 2013-19.
Oxholm’s leadership on school finance, bond campaigns, and tutoring initiatives has had a lasting impact, from increasing funding transparency to recruiting hundreds of volunteers to support student learning.
His dedication to public schools reflects a deep belief in its role as the foundation of a strong community, workforce, and democracy.
In an op-ed published by Business North Carolina in 2024, Oxholm called on legislators to “get in the game.”
Which is more important to business leaders: reducing North Carolina’s already-low corporate tax rate further to 2.5% or 0%, or having all kids prepared to enter school and reading at grade level? Our legislature should instead raise the corporate tax rate and do whatever it takes to educate students properly. Workers of the future need more days in school, after-school tutors, classroom supplies, and better pay for teachers and principals.
From the local level to the upper echelons of state political and economic power, we also need closer cooperation among businesses, educators, and elected officials. Too many government officials and business leaders are disengaged from our public schools. Too many local school districts stubbornly eschew the experienced advice of business executives. And too many myopic chambers of commerce look the other way.
Wake up! Strong public education matters to us all in North Carolina, including business leaders. Let’s act like it – before it’s too late.
— Tom Oxholm
Oxholm is a legend in education circles. From nitty-gritty details to big strategy, he always shows up.
