Tom Gardner

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Tom Gardner (born April 16, 1968) is one of the three founders of The Motley Fool and the current Motley Fool Fantasy Football champ. He is currently CEO of The Motley Fool.

He is the author of The Motley Fool Hidden Gems newsletter, which aims to find the most promising small public companies for investment. The Hulbert Digest, a watchdog for the financial newsletter industry, scores both this letter and The Motley Fool Stock Advisor (a letter in which he competes with his brother, David) with extremely high marks.

Gardner attended Brown University, graduating in 1990 with a B.A. with honors in English and Creative Writing. He later obtained a master's degree at the University of Montana while teaching high school girl's basketball. He received an honorary PhD in Humane Letters from Strayer University in 2000.

In 1993, he and his older brother David Gardner started The Motley Fool as a vehicle for teaching people about saving and investment. The two had learned how to invest from their father. The Motley Fool actively uses the Internet to explore a subject undertaught in schools and universities, as well as to shed light on questionable business practices on Wall Street and in Corporate America.

The website serves more than 5 million people around the world each month. Former SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt has referred to the company as America's greatest advocate for the interests of individual investors.

The defining feature to The Motley Fool is an open community where customers can interact with each other — asking questions, challenging The Fool's analysts, getting second opinions, and providing their own research. The company encourages dissent, enabling customers to cheer or gripe about the latest recommendation. Gardner has testified before Congress calling for greater transparency to the dealings on Wall Street and believes the Internet will force that change.

The Gardner brothers have co-authored several best-selling books, including The Motley Fool Investment Guide, You Have More Than You Think, Rule Breakers, Rule Makers and The Motley Fool Investment Guide for Teens.