Bylsma, a 1986 Hope graduate, will come to Hope with nearly two decades of career experience, including having served as executive director of Freedom Village in Holland for the past six years. He will assume his responsibilities at the college on July 1.

"Tom Bylsma is an exceptional person with outstanding skill in finance and demonstrated ability in the management and development of people," said Dr. James E. Bultman, president of Hope College. "Tom has a passion for Hope and its mission, and our expectation is for a long and fulfilling relationship as he provides leadership in this important area of the college."

As vice president and chief fiscal officer, Bylsma will have administrative oversight for all financial matters of the college, including student financial aid. He will also supervise information and technology, the physical plant, human resources and campus safety. He succeeds William K. Anderson, who is retiring from the college after working at Hope since 1966.

Bylsma has been with Freedom Village since 1990. He joined the Freedom Village staff in 1990 as financial director, and was promoted to executive director in 1999.

He was an accountant with Ernst & Young from 1986 to 1990.

His professional and community involvements include membership in the Michigan Association of Certified Public Accountants and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and serving on the Holland Downtown Strategic Planning Committee and as a member of the board of Hospice of Holland. He is also an active member of Daybreak Church in Hudsonville, where he and his wife, Susan, who is a Hope classmate, live with their three sons.

Bylsma majored in business administration at Hope. A member of the college's baseball team throughout his college career, he was named to the Academic All-America second team in baseball in 1985 and the first team in 1986. He is a West Michigan native, and graduated from Ottawa Hills High School in 1982.

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