Thom Panunzio grew up in River Edge, New Jersey not too far from Manhattan. He began his career as an audio engineer originally working at Record Plant Studios in New York. There he met, Jimmy Iovine, and started his career working with John Lennon. Since the mid-1970s he has engineered and produced albums by Willie Nile, Nuclear Valdez, Ozzy Osbourne, Tom Petty, Stevie Nicks, Bruce Springsteen, Willy DeVille, Tony Richards and The Kman Band, and Bob Dylan. He also produced Hammered by Motörhead and Bullet Proof by rapper Hush, also featuring Phil Campbell from Motörhead.
Panunzio, along with Jimmy Iovine, left record production and has become the Head of A&R at Geffen Records. He has recently produced New Found Glory's Coming Home.