Front Royal, Virginia, native Thomas Rust was a busy Civil Engineering student at Virginia Tech, as Captain of the Corps of Cadets "C" Squadron and a member of the German Club, Sash & Sabre, Society of American Military Engineers, and the Apple Club. After receiving his B.S. in 1965, Tom moved to Herndon to work as a Design Engineer for the County of Fairfax Department of Public Works. Since that time, he has become one of Northern Virginia's most notable engineering, business and civic leaders.



In 1969, Mr. Rust joined the engineering firm that is now Patton, Harris, Rust and Associates. That same year, he was named the Outstanding Young Engineer in Northern Virginia by the Virginia Society of Professional Engineers (VSPE). The young engineer had a banner year in 1971-he received VPSE's Outstanding Service Award and was elected for the next five years to the Herndon Town Council, serving simultaneously on the town's Planning Commission. Civic service had become an important factor in his life, and in 1976 he successfully ran for Mayor, serving in that post for the next eight years until he chose not to seek re-election for a time.



During the 1970s, he also found time to become involved with the Virginia Municipal League, serving as Chairman of the Effective Government Committee and as a representative to the National League of Cities. He received the Fairfax County Land Conservation Award and in 1979 was named Man of the Year by the Greater Herndon Jaycees.



Mr. Rust did not slow down in the 1980s. In addition to his professional and mayoral responsibilities and family life, he served as Rector of the Longwood College Board of Visitors, was a member and then Chair of the Fairfax County Civil Service Commission, was on the Board of Directors of the Virginia Local Government Investors Fund and Chair of the Bank of Potomac Board of Directors, was appointed to the Virginia Tech College of Engineering's Committee of 100, and became a Founder of the university's President's Council. The Reston Times named him one of the Most Influential People of the Century in 1984.



In the midst of his other activities, Mr. Rust returned to school and earned his M.S. in Public Works Engineering from George Washington University in 1978 and a Master's of Planning in Urban and Environmental Planning from the University of Virginia in 1989.



In 1990, after a six-year hiatus, he once again was elected Mayor of Herndon and has held the office since then. The same year, he was appointed to the Northern Virginia Planning District Commission, work he continues to the present. In 1997, then-Governor George Allen declared July 21 as "Thomas Davis Rust Day." In 2000, the Herndon-Dulles Chamber of Commerce recognized his numerous civic efforts with the Longtime Service to the Community Award.



Mr. Rust received a gubernatorial appointment in 1996 to the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors and was elected Vice-Rector three years later. He was re-appointed to the board by Gov. James Gilmore in 2000.



PHR&A thrived with the help of Mr. Rust's hard work and leadership; the company now has corporate headquarters in Chantilly, Virginia, and eight regional offices located in Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia. He was named Chairman of the Board in 1990 and continues to work as a Principal-in-Charge of planning and engineering for cornerstone projects. Some of the projects PHR&A has been involved in recently under Mr. Rust's chairmanship include the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.; three major bridge designs for the West Virginia Department of Highways; design of Route 58 for the Virginia Department of Transportation; the National Institute of Health building in Bethesda, Maryland; and reconstruction of the Washington Navy Yard.



Tom and his wife, Ann, have a daughter, two sons, and two grandchildren. Tom's daughter, Robin Rust Mullet, and her husband, Steve Mullet, also are Virginia Tech alumni.