Tom Presto has been partnering with directors and educators for the 27 years since he founded Specialty Travel & Tours in Ambridge, PA. As he steps into retirement, and a new season of travel and family, Tom has entrusted our team at Bob Rogers Travel with the client relationships he’s built.
We’re honored to celebrate Tom’s exceptional career and the impact he’s had on student performers in Pennsylvania and beyond.
He’s Always Been a Logistics Expert
Tom joined his family’s trucking business as a young man and worked as the company’s director of operations for many years, handling the extensive logistical details. As his role expanded, Tom also took on planning travel for client entertainment trips, golf outings, and industry events. And he discovered how much he enjoyed traveling and putting his logistics skills to work in a new way.
In 1999, a band director friend asked him if he’d be willing to plan a performance trip for his students. Tom made a choice that would change the course of his life – he said yes! He planned a trip to Orlando for over 300 students and jokes that he “went from moving freight to moving people.” He loved every minute.
As he watched these students leave home and experience a new city for the first time, it changed him. “On that first trip, half of the kids had never been to Disney before,” he said. “I’ve loved showing kids big cities like New York City, showing them the ocean for the first time, and putting them on a plane for the first time.”
He returned from that first student performance trip and launched Specialty Travel & Tours, jumping into the business full-time in 2004. What began as performance trips for his friend at Ambridge Area High School snowballed into referrals at other schools in his area and the surrounding districts. For more than two decades, Tom would have the privilege of showing students the world beyond their hometowns.
Music Changed Everything
Over the years, Tom worked almost exclusively with music groups, enjoying the structure that bands, choirs, and orchestras brought to the planning process, along with the polite, well-behaved student performers. He arranged all kinds of music tours – from elite parade and bowl game experiences to adjudicated band events and festivals and everything in between.
While he wasn’t a musician himself, Tom was so deeply immersed in music performance for so many years that he was inspired to learn piano at age 68.
“Being in the music world, I was surrounded by terminology I didn’t understand,” he shared. “During the pandemic, I decided to start taking piano lessons and I’m still taking them. I’m never going to play Carnegie Hall, but I play for my own enjoyment. I learned enough music theory from judges and adjudications, and I finally understand it now!”
He’s Ready for New Adventures
Running his own travel business gave Tom the flexibility to spend time with his wife and four children as they were growing up. As Tom enters a new chapter and approaches retirement, he’s looking forward to spending more free time with his family, which has grown to include three grandchildren. He’s also eager to put his well-earned backlog of airline miles and hotel points to use and plan new adventures with his wife.
As he was considering the future of Specialty Travel & Tours, he knew he wanted to pass the baton to our team at BRT.
“Bob Rogers Travel has been in the back of my mind since I started thinking about retiring,” he said. “They have a great reputation, and their methods and procedures sound like mine. Plus, they have direct billing and fundraising options and are big enough to have great hotel and motorcoach rates. This will be an easy transition for my customers.”
We’re thrilled to work with Tom and deliver the same level of personal and purposeful performance travel experiences his clients have come to expect. It’s our privilege to serve the students and educators he’s traveled with for the last 27 years. We wish Tom and his family the best as they travel and make new memories!
