Thomas Hyatt

Practice Areas

Tom is a principal in the law practice of Thomas K. Hyatt, PLLC and in the consulting practice Tom Hyatt Governance Strategies. He focuses his legal practice on corporate, nonprofit regulatory, and tax-exempt organization issues and is widely known for his work on behalf of nonprofit public and private universities and colleges and institutionally related foundations. Tom also represents nonprofit public and private health care providers. He frequently works with nonprofit governing boards and board committees to address such issues as regulatory compliance, fiduciary duty, conflicts of interest, bylaws and policy development and revision, senior management compensation and benefits, CEO transition, succession planning, fund raising, lobbying and political campaign activity, board development, membership matters, corporate restructuring, and mergers and joint ventures. Tom’s governance consulting practice is devoted to assisting nonprofits in adopting leading governance practices and becoming high-performing boards. Tom served as a Partner at Dentons US LLP, the world's largest global law firm, for 14 years.

Tom is a licensed consultant for the Standards for Excellence Institute and is a Consultant for AGB Consulting. He frequently lectures on business, tax exemption planning, and governance issues for nonprofit organizations and has written numerous books and articles for publication. Tom is the co author of The Law of Tax-Exempt Healthcare Organizations, Fourth Edition (2013, Cum. Supp. 2021) published by Wiley, the author of the chapter Fiduciary Responsibilities of Foundation Boards in The New Realties for Public Higher Education Foundations (2020), the co-author of Presidential Compensation (2018), and the author of the AGB Effective Committee Series Guidebook, The Compensation Committee (2013), each published by AGB Press. Tom also serves as a Senior Fellow at the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges.

Career

Mr. Hyatt received the 2017 Outstanding Nonprofit Lawyer Award from the American Bar Association.

Professional Memberships

American Health Lawyers Association: Board of Directors, 1992-1998; Chair Emeritus, Faculty, Tax Issues in Healthcare Organizations Seminar; Charter Fellow. Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, Senior Fellow. Roosevelt University Board of Trustees, 2023-present

Publications

Co-author, The Law of Tax-Exempt Healthcare Organizations (4th Ed.).

Personal

University of Pittsburgh, 1982, JD; Boston College, 1979, BA