Thomas E. Gatewood, III – Executive Director
Tom is a native of North Carolina growing up in Winston-Salem, NC where he attended R.J. Reynolds High School. In 1996, he graduated with a degree in Business Administration from Campbell University and following graduation began the administrator in training program becoming a licensed nursing home administrator. Tom has been the Executive Director of Big Elm since 2005 and has practiced in long term care administration for over 23 years. Tom has served Cabarrus and Rowan Counties for all of those years through his work as Administrator for Five Oaks form 1998-2005 and as Executive Director for Big Elm from 2005 to present.
Tom’s management philosophy is simple…he wants to run facilities that he would entrust the care of his own family. “Long term care is all about community and the people who we are caring for now built this community. Long term care is all about people and that is why Big Elm is such a special place. Our partnerships with Big Elm Ministry and the outreach provided by our nursing and assisted living facilities are all integral in this community.”
Aside from operating healthcare facilities, Tom has two boys, Tee and Greaves ages 11 and 8 respectively, a wonderful and supportive wife of over 16 years Page, two dogs (Amos and Rosie), a cat (Poppy-Snowflake), two hermit crabs, and a frog. He use to like to play golf however the aforementioned has done damage to the time necessary to play!