About Me
Hi, I'm Thomas, founder of Tributary Consulting. My background is in business analysis, media strategy, and task automation. Long before I started working with AI, I was finding ways to make spreadsheets do repetitive work so people didn't have to.
Over the past two years I've trained hundreds of people across Ireland, Scotland, and England, including more than 200 colleagues at News UK & Ireland. Regular AI usage across the Ireland and Scotland teams rose from 19% to 74% over that period. I've also helped dozens of non-technical colleagues build their own automations for everyday tasks.
Watching someone realise they can solve a problem they'd previously just worked around is one of the things I enjoy most about teaching.
How I teach
My background in psychology shapes how I teach. People need time to practise, ask questions and connect what they’re learning to their own work. I start with manageable tasks and guided support, then build towards more ambitious applications as skills and confidence grow.
Good training also develops judgement: when AI is useful, when another approach works better, how to check its output and how to protect sensitive information. My aim is for people to leave with practical skills they can use immediately, the confidence to keep experimenting and the judgement to use AI responsibly.
Why Tributary
I started Tributary because the people closest to the work often see the best opportunities to improve it. They know where the bottlenecks are, which tasks eat their time and what would make a difference to their customers. Practical AI skills give them more ways to act on that knowledge.
Saving time is valuable. What interests me just as much is what that time makes possible: better analysis, more attention to customers and room to tackle work that keeps slipping down the list. Tributary helps people explore those possibilities and make useful, lasting changes to their everyday work.
Let’s find a useful starting point for your team. Book a 20-minute call and we’ll talk through what could make a difference.
Tom was instrumental from day 1 in our company’s AI journey. Tom led this area, guiding it from initial understanding through implementation and daily usage for all staff in Dublin, Manchester and Glasgow. This has transformed how we work across many levels and areas of our business. Tom was a pleasure to work with and an excellent trainer who used straightforward and relatable examples to explain complex systems.
Karl Kavanagh
Head of Digital & Publishing, NGN