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Kohls Group

By Susie Mathews

Tom Aranow

When I sat down to talk with my old Mequon – Thiensville Sunrise Rotary friend, Tom Aranow, and told him a mutual friend, Dave Jackson from Apollo Systems, Inc., suggested we do a positive news story about him, Tom put his head down … blushed a bit, and said I’m not very comfortable talking about myself.  But I asked, “There must be some reason Dave nominated you as the Mequon – Thiensville Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year for 2008.”  Through our conversation I found, that Tom not only has made a lasting contribution to our community, but communities across the country. 

Aranow blends his fulfilling professional life as Senior Advisor for Kohls Group, a management & business-consulting firm, with volunteering for and training others in prescribed controlled burn practices.

Tom is instrumental in The Nature Conservancy’s fire training program.   Hannah Spaul, Conservancy Land Steward states, “Each year Tom tirelessly gives his time to be the lead instructor for our burn crew training.”   In the past, the philosophy for burning was to simply suppress the fires, regardless of the situation. This practice leads to an imbalance of the natural environment.  Over twenty years ago, Tom was among a few individuals throughout the country who looked at controlled burning as a science.  By studying the topography, relative humidity and the vegetation of an area, prescribed fire can be dramatically more cost effective and have much better long term ecological results, let alone being safer.  Today this method is now being considered the preferred method. 

Tom has traveled out of state on many missions, but recalls the clean up effort after Hurricane Katrina stands out as being one of the experiences that has had the most personal impact on him.

Thank you to Tom for all you do to help others.