Thomas W. Mattson is an experienced scientist, naval officer, engineer, executive, teacher, and mathematician. He earned his undergraduate engineering degree (B.Sc.) from Webb Institute of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering. He was subsequently awarded a National Science Foundation Fellowship to attend MIT, where he studied high-temperature heat transfer and conducted research with MIT Professor Emeritus Hoyt C. Hottel for his thesis on high-temperature radiation phenomena.

Mr. Mattson joined the Navy upon graduating from MIT and served his country for twenty years. His active-duty assignments included service aboard the repair ship USS Puget Sound in Newport, RI, where he served as Repair Officer and Main Propulsion Assistant. Lt. Mattson also served at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard as a Ship Superintendent and Assistant Design Officer. While in Hawaii, he earned an MBA from the University of Hawaii, specializing in economics and finance.

Mr. Mattson began his professional career with Exxon Oil Company, where he worked for over twenty-one years as an engineer, executive, and vice president. He later worked for Peabody Coal Company, helping to build a coal-fired power plant in Indonesia. He also worked for the Norwegian shipping company Klaveness AS as a business developer, and later joined NRG Energy as a vice president in charge of the construction and operation of electric generating plants in the eastern United States.

His experience includes the design, construction, and operation of ships, oil processing plants, and gas- and coal-fired power plants; forecasting, strategic planning, and economic and logistical analysis of international oil operations; oil trading; and coal mining and marketing. He retired from the energy business in 2003.

Mr. Mattson began his teaching career that same year, earning an M.S.Ed. in mathematics from Cabrini University. He went on to teach mathematics at both the secondary and college levels for sixteen years, focusing on teaching college-level calculus at the secondary level.

Mr. Mattson retired from teaching in 2022 and is now pursuing other areas of interest.