Thomas Bylsma

Tom Bylsma has served as Vice President for Business and Chief Financial Officer of Hope College since 2005. In that role he manages the college's business and financial operations and holds administrative oversight for all of the institution's financial matters, including its endowment. His portfolio also spans business services, information technology, the physical plant, human resources, and campus safety. He reports to the college president and serves as an officer of the institution.

Bylsma is a Hope College alumnus, earning a B.A. in Business Administration in 1986. As a student he was a baseball player and a two-time Academic All-America honoree. After graduating, he worked in public accounting at Ernst & Young (EY) from 1986 to 1990, where he earned his CPA license.

From 1990 to 2005 he worked in the life-care/retirement industry as Financial Director and later Executive Director of Freedom Village in Holland, Michigan, before returning to his alma mater as CFO. He is a member of the Michigan Association and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and has served on the board of Creative Dining Services.

After 21 years as Hope College's CFO, Bylsma is retiring in 2026. Robin Zondervan was appointed to succeed him as CFO effective July 1, 2026.

• No public record of an independent angel-investing thesis, startup check-writing, or a personal investment portfolio could be verified. The "Angel Investors / Seed Round" classification in the provided stub appears to be a database mislabel rather than a documented activity.
• His professional financial responsibility is institutional: overseeing Hope College's endowment and all college financial matters as a fiduciary, not deploying venture capital into startups.