Meet Tom QuinnFounder - Alpha Advisory AI

After celebrating my youngest son’s graduation from college, it was finally my turn to return to academia. So, my wife and I sold the house in the suburbs, rented an apartment in Jersey City, and the adventure began.

In the fall of 2024, I was a first-year graduate student at Columbia University in the School of Professional Studies, pursuing a degree in Information and Knowledge Management. In May 2026, I completed my degree and launched Alpha Advisory AI to assist with:

  • The Implementation of Human-Centered AI
  • Digital Transformation & Change Management
  • Coaching, Mentoring, Motivating, Inspiring
  • Agentic AI, Consumer Agents & Agent Space

Life-long learner

Columbia University crest
2026

Columbia University

School of Professional Studies — Information & Knowledge Strategy

New York University crest
1992

New York University

Stern School of Business — MBA, Marketing & International Business

Bucknell University crest
1986

Bucknell University

B.S. Computer Science

Tom Quinn at Columbia University

Think Bigger Ideas:

  • Company specific websites will be augmented by Market Facing Agentic AI as the dominant form of e-commerce by 2030.
  • Knowledge - When where and how you want it - Gaining superagency by partnering with AI (Think Jarvis and Tony Stark).
  • Remaining Relevant as we Age - Custom AI Companions that meet seniors where they are (Voice-First, Privacy Guaranteed, Information Driven).

Columbia Keynote Commencement Address

In May 2026, I was chosen to speak at Columbia’s School of Professional Studies graduation. The three themes of the speech now anchor the work I do at Alpha Advisory:

  • Knowledge is Social
  • Connection precedes persuasion.
  • AI should amplify people, not replace them.

~22 sec — name-checks Alpha Advisory

Trouble loading? Watch on Vimeo directly →

Columbia Research — The Similarity Tsunami

In December 2025, working with Professor Harry West from Columbia Engineering, Tom identified how Large Language Models tend to converge in multidimensional space. His research identified the need to:

  • Recognize the impacts of the ‘Social Stack’
  • Use context to develop edge case results
  • Preserve human agency by inserting your input into the decision tree