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About Tom

Tom Mullikin attended South Carolina public schools, graduating from Camden High School and in 1982 graduating from the University of South Carolina (Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa). Later that year he married his high school sweetheart Virginia Ann Pitsenbarger.
 

After a couple years working on Capitol Hill, Tom and Virginia Ann returned to South Carolina where he attended the University of South Carolina School of Law, graduating in 1986.
 

Since 1986, Tom’s civilian law practice has been in the Corporate, Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) arena.
 

In 1996, Tom was approached by then-Governor David Beasley and SCGOP Chairman Henry McMaster to be the Republican challenger against a powerful 45-year legislative Democrat incumbent for State Senate. Ignoring all conventional wisdom, Tom agreed to run, mounting an aggressive campaign based on his conservative principles and values. Though he came up short in that race, the organization he built energized and, in some cases, established the local Republican parties across the district.
 

Today Tom is a highly respected expert on market-based solutions for climate and environmental issues. His outspoken support for American manufacturing, farming and energy production placed him on the front lines of combating the radical left’s attempt to use environmental hysteria as an excuse to institute global socialism. He is a widely sought expert and speaker on truth-based capitalist rebuttals to false and misleading environmental propaganda.
 

Tom also has had a distinguished military career. He currently serves as the Commander of the S.C. State Guard and the President of the State Guard Association of the United States. Tom previously served as a captain in the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General Corps.
 

Tom and Virginia Ann reside in Camden, South Carolina. Together they have children: Mary Elizabeth, Alexandra (Tomlinson) and husband, Brant, Thomas, Jr., Margaret Charles, and granddaughter Anna Gibbs Tomlinson. They are longtime members of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church in their hometown.
 

Awards and Accomplishments
• Order of the Palmetto, the highest civilian honor bestowed by the State of South Carolina
• Successful climbs to summits of the highest mountains in Europe (Mt. Elbrus), Africa (Mt. Kilimanjaro), Australia (Mt. Kosciuszko) and South America (Mt. Aconcagua) as well as mountain ranges across North America and Antarctica
• Awarded the IRONMAN title by Ironman Outdoors (Sandhills Chapter)
• Recorded scuba dives in all of the Earth’s oceans including certification as a polar diver for his ice dives in the Arctic and Antarctic Oceans
 

Community Service
• Board of Directors for the U.S. Army Special Forces Foundation (S.C. Chapter)
• Special Deputy and Rescue Diver on the Richland County (S.C.) Sheriff’s Department Underwater Recovery Unit.
• Member of Mason Lodge #29
• Member representative of Kershaw County Chamber
 

PROFESSIONAL
 

With more than three decades of significant legal environmental expertise, Tom Mullikin is a senior environmental attorney, seasoned expert on global environmental policy, award winning documentarian and author, and senior military officer. Tom’s environmental work has taken him to every continent on earth, including multiple trips to the Arctic and Antarctica. Tom has brought context to his work as a senior environmental attorney by studying climate, water and land use on every continent and in all oceans. While traveling around the globe, he has developed sophisticated strategies on issues such as climate change, nuclear technology, environmental sustainability, disaster relief, crisis management, healthcare, and unconventional energy production.
 

Legal Career Highlights
• Representation of foreign countries, global organizations and Fortune 100 companies including the largest privately held corporation in the world
• Chief Counsel and Vice President of Public Affairs for the largest environmental services company in the world
• General Counsel for an international nuclear technology firm
• Senior partner at a prominent law firm in the United States
 

Practice Areas
• Management of complex energy and environmental issues, both domestically and internationally
• Litigation support before the United States District Court, United States Court of Appeals, and United States Supreme Court
• Environmental due diligence for large corporate transnational work
• Environmental Management Systems Auditing
• Sustainability studies for multinational corporations, universities, and domestic and international governments
 

Worldwide Service and Recognition
• Senior advisor to U.S. Presidential candidate John McCain
• Served as a United States private sector representative at the 2016 U.S. – Caribbean -Central American Energy Summit
• Assisted with the response to the Prestige Oil Tanker Crisis and addressed international waste issues in Europe and Asia
• Assisted in drafting chemical laws for the Republic of Moldova
• Reviewed and drafted recommendations for Sierra Leone Constitution proposed chapter on local government
• Assessed pro bono and legal assistance program best practices for the Maldives
• Recognized by the Fijian Permanent Secretary of Lands and Mineral Resources Tevita Boseiwaqafor leading a team of experts on behalf of the UNDP-ABA and serving as a liaison to the Fijian government in drafting expansive comments and recommendations for legislation aimed at protecting the Pacific island nation’s rich mineral resources
• Expert for the National Geographic Society on the “Alaska: Denali to Prince William Sound” expedition, where he lectured on the changing climate and Alaska’s robust environment and wildlife
 

Media Experience
• Broadcast networks or affiliates, appearances include CSPAN, PBS, FOX, NBC, CBS and ABC
• Quoted in major publications, such as the Los Angeles Times, Charlotte Observer, San Antonio Express News, and other local news publications across the country
 

Teaching, Training, Speaking and Lecturing
Current:
• Research Professor at Coastal Carolina University
• Army Master Fitness Trainer (graduate of the U.S. Army Physical Fitness School, Fort Benning, Georgia)
• Self-defense instructor (holds a black belt in Karate)
• Master Diver (PADI) and dive instructor (PSAI)


Previous:
• Associate Director of Law and Policy Doctorate Program at Northeastern University
• Adjunct Professor at Universidad San Francisco de Quito (Galapagos Campus)
• Lectured Oxford University (England)
• Lectured Trinity University (Ireland)
• Lectured University of Edinburgh (Scotland)
• Lectures St. Petersburg State University (Russia)
• Lectured Stanford Law School (California)
• Lectured Institute of Geology at Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia)
• Lectured Loyola University, (New Orleans)
• Speaker at international conferences, such as Woodrow Wilson Center Cross Border Energy Forum, in Australia, Russia, Estonia, Taiwan, Peru, Argentina, Antarctica, Namibia, the Czech Republic
• Presenter at hundreds of industry associations, civic organizations and state and regional chambers of commerce

Award Winning Documentaries
• Global Problems, Global Solutions is the story of a team of researchers and environmental experts led by Tom on an Antarctica expedition studying the effects of climate change on the polar regions. Climate Change: Global Problems, Global Solutionsreceived widespread acclaim in both business and environmental circles, and was broadcast on New Hampshire Public Television, with a Boston-area viewership of more than 2.4 million households.
• The Whole Truth highlights his climate change research during expeditions to the Namib Desert of Africa, the Amazon River Basin of Peru, and the Great Barrier Reef of Australia in this subsequent documentary. The Whole Truth was featured at the Charleston Film Festival and broadcast on the Halogen Network to over 13 million homes in the United States and received Telly Award Bronze Medals in the feature documentary category and the social issues category.

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