Thomas J. Sheehan Jr. completed his BSEE at Purdue in 1964 and his MSEE in 1965. He actually began his career with General Motors (GM) as a cooperative education student and rapidly rose through the ranks from entry level engineer to management. During his 36 years with General Motors, Sheehan held twenty-two positions, each with increasing responsibility, and gained corporate perspective by working in five of GM's operating divisions. He led sales, marketing, and manufacturing operations for several divisions and was instrumental in establishing Delco's Asia/Pacific operations. As head of Delco Electronics from 1995 until 1998, Sheehan greatly contributed to the company's phenomenal growth, that, were it not a subsidiary company, would now place Delco number 250 on the Fortune 500 list. When he retired he was directing the activity of more than 23,000 employees in 17 countries. As general director of operations, Thomas J. Sheehan Jr. was responsible for worldwide manufacturing for Delco Electronics Corporation, resulting in 1996 sales of more than $5.3 billion.

Sheehan has served on the Engineering Visiting Committee and the Dean's Executive Council of the School of Technology at Purdue University.

Upon retirement from Delco, he launched a new venture, Syndicate Sales Incorporated, and is now president of that company which produces items for the floral industry.