Tom Calender

Tom is a seasoned advisor known for being a creative legal strategist, maintaining calm amidst chaos, and building trust with clients and colleagues.  Tom brings over 25 years of experience as an employment attorney, including 18 years as in-house counsel at WarnerMedia (formerly Turner Broadcasting System, currently Warner Bros. Discovery) and prior to that as a partner in the largest labor and employment law firm in the country.  He has overseen and advised on hundreds of restructures, from those involving one or two impacted positions in a single location to those resulting in thousands of impacted positions across the U.S.  Tom has a deep understanding of the restructure process from both a Legal and HR perspective, including the value of objective evaluation processes, reasonable risk mitigation approaches and thoughtful and compassionate implementation strategies.  He has worked with all levels of the business, from the C-suite to front line managers, and with a variety of partners including HR, Finance, Accounting, Communications, Payroll, Tax, Risk, Compliance and Technology.  He understands the complex issues involved in a layoff and the challenges faced by Legal and HR professionals who are responsible for implementing them.  He prioritizes listening, balancing business need against legal risk, and operating collaboratively as a member of the team, all while remaining agile to accommodate shifting priorities.  His empathetic and pragmatic approach combined with extensive experience navigating complicated legal matters in a global company enable him to provide his clients with tailored solutions to expertly guide them through whatever transformation their company is undertaking.

Prior to launching FutureState Counsel, Tom served as head of global employment for Turner Broadcasting System's approximately 15,000 employees, responsible for all employment-related legal matters and for building, leading and developing the employment team of attorneys, paralegals and support staff.  He subsequently led the employment team supporting key assets within WarnerMedia, including HBO, Max, Technology & Operations, Sales & Distribution and Global Real Estate.  Regular corporate restructures - resulting from a series of internal realignments, acquisitions and divestitures, and integrations - and years of "operating in the gray" allowed him to gain valuable insights into corporate transformations and related best practices. 

Vanderbilt Law School, J.D.

Vanderbilt University, B.A.

Bar Admission:  Georgia