Tom Høyem was born on 10 October 1941. Between September 1982 and September 1987, he served as Minister for Greenland within the Danish government under the premiership of Poul Schlüter. Høyem was succeeded in that office by Mimi Jakobsen.
On 14 September 1984, Høyem was awarded the honour of kommandør af Dannebrogordenen.
Høyem has served as independent election observer for OSCE on behalf of the Danish government in Albania, Bosnia, Montenegro, Ukraine Palastine and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Høyem served as headmaster of the European School Culham (1987-1994), then moved to Germany, where he became the principal of the European School Munich (1994-2000) and, thereafter, the European School Karlsruhe (see below). In 1994, he joined the Freie Demokratische Partei, the German liberal party, and in 2004 Høyem was elected to serve on the Gemeinderat (council) of the city of Karlsruhe.