Thomas is a Chemical Engineer by education, and graduated from the University of Aachen in Germany with a Ph.D. in Process Engineering in 1996. Thomas started his industrial career in the Waste Treatment Technology department of a major German engineering firm, then in 2001 moved on to become a Managing Director for an international supplier to the automotive industry. From 2013 to 2018, he was responsible as a CEO for a family-owned German Engineering company that focuses on solid-liquid waste stream treatment, separation, and recycling.

Since 2019, Thomas serves as the CEO of Franzen International AG, a family-owned Swiss-German business which has activities in various industrial sectors, including access management technology for waste containers. His focus is to bring new insights and technologies to the solid waste industry against the backdrop of the introduction of additional waste streams and IoT devices and applications.