Executive Director, European Centre for Public Affairs (ECPA), 1987 –1989, 1999 - .  Visiting Professor of Global Governance, University of Surrey, 2000 – 2003. Visiting Professor of Public Affairs, Brunel University, 2003 - .

Vice Chairman, the Institute for Environmental Security in The Hague, 2006 -. Senior Advisor 2003-2006, where he takes a particular interest in Forests and Climate and the Greening of Security Policy.  He is a member of the Conservative Party’s Quality of Life group on Climate Change.  He is a board member of Action for a Global Climate Community 2004 - .

Chairman, Counterpart Europe, 2000 - 2002, an NGO active in sixty countries. He was a Commissioner of the Commission on Globalisation, 2000 - 2003. Co-Moderator of the "National Sovereignty and Universal Challenges: Choices for the World after Iraq" conference held in Brussels in June 2003. Chairs meetings of the Religious and Scientific Committee of the Religion, Science and Environment Symposia organised by His All Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople 2000 -

President, the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights and Defence Policy, 1997 – 99. He took a particular interest in East and Central Europe and was Chairman of the EP-Czech Joint Parliamentary Committee. Awarded the Great Golden Medal for Merit of the Republic of Austria (1996).

President, GLOBE International (Global Legislators for a Balanced Environment) linking four hundred Members of Parliament worldwide, 1995 – 99. Awarded the Forum for the Future's Green Ribbon Award (1999)

Leader of the Conservatives in the European Parliament (the British Section of the European People’s Party Group) 1994 – 97

Member of the European Parliament for Surrey 1989 -1999.  He was Deputy Chief Whip and served on both the Agriculture and Environment Committees.  Rapporteur, “Trade and Environment: Reform of the GATT (1991) and “CO2/Energy Tax, (1994 –1997)

Associate Dean of Templeton College, Oxford, 1984 –1989

Member of the European Parliament for Derbyshire from 1979 – 1984. Conservative Spokesman on Social Affairs and Employment and subsequently on External Trade. Rapporteur for EU Directive on “Information and Consultation in Multi-National Enterprises” (1981-84)

J Walter Thompson & Co, 1975-1979, where he was responsible amongst other things for managing the Guinness advertising

Assistant to the Director of the “Britain in Europe” Referendum Campaign in 1975 and Secretary to the Referendum Steering Group.  Worked in the United States Senate for Senator John Tower of Texas, summer 1975
 Peat Marwick Mitchell & Co, 1972-1974

Chairman of the European Union of Conservative and Christian Democrat Students from 1971 to 1974, and the first winner of the Robert Schuman Silver Medal for services to Europe. 

Southampton University, 1967-1972,  B.Sc. (Soc. Sci.) in Accountancy and Commerce, and post graduate research on Agricultural Economics.  The Nautical College, Pangbourne, 1961-1966

He is a member of the Council of Federal Trust; the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Public Affairs and the Handbook of Public Affairs; the Advisory Council of the Centre for Corporate and Public Affairs at Manchester Metropolitan University; the MSc Business and Public Affairs Advisory Board at Brunel University; the Advisory Councils of EchoResearch, the Fondation EurActiv and the International Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement (INECE).  He has been, variously, a member of the Editorial Board of the European Business Journal, Senior Advisor to the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies in Japan and the Institute for International Education in New York.  

His first book, “Public Affairs and Power: Essays in a Time of Fear” was published by Landmarks in December 2003 and his second, “Everything Flows: Essays on Public Affairs and Change” was published in February 2005.  His third book “Challenge and Response: Essays on Public Affairs & Transparency” was published in September 2006.

Tom Spencer was born in Nottingham in 1948.  He is married with three daughters and a granddaughter.  He enjoys recreating old gardens, restoring old houses and exploring new ideas.