Tom hails from Short Hills, New Jersey where he grew up in a family of avid birdwatchers, flyfishers and hikers. After an active sports career in college football and track, he received his B.A. at Williams College and his M.Sc. in Wildlife Ecology at the University of California, Berkeley where he studied predator-prey interactions of Broad-winged and Accipiter Hawks and Falcons. He continued his graduate studies in wildlife and plant ecology at the University of British Columbia studying plant community ecology and bighorn sheep habitat selection.

During his 28 year career, Mr. Lester has held a variety of professional, management and directorship positions in the B.C. Ministry of Forests, specializing in range and wildlife habitat inventory, field surveys and in wild land conservation. He has also held senior positions in various private land conservation organizations including positions as Executive Director of the Nature Trust of British Columbia, one of B.C.'s oldest and largest conservation groups and as the Executive Director of the Sierra Club of Canada, B.C. Chapter. Mr. Lester has been involved in the acquisition and management of thousands of acres of wildlife habitat on British Columbia's coast and interior to promote the management of migratory waterfowl and other species of birds and mammals.

Still an avid outdoorsman, Tom spends much of his retirement time birding, fly fishing and hiking along with pursing other interests such as playing acoustic fingerstyle guitar, gardening, fly-tying, and collecting vintage audio equipment. He resides in Vancouver, British Columbia where he is a member of the British Columbia Association of Field Ornithologists.