David A. Thomas is president
of Morehouse College. He is an expert on workplace diversity and equity
and is consulted widely for advice on organizational change. Previously,
Thomas was dean of the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown
University, where he diversified the faculty and staff of the McDonough
School of Business, led major revisions of the curriculum, expanded the
endowment, and increased research funding. Earlier, he was senior
associate dean and H. Naylor Fitzhugh Professor at Harvard University.
He began his academic career at the Wharton School of the University of
Pennsylvania.
Thomas’s scholarly work has been published in the
Journal of Organizational Behavior,
Administrative Science Quarterly,
Harvard Business Review, and
Business Ethics Forum. He has coauthored two books related to his work on diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Breaking Through: The Making of Minority Executives in Corporate America (1999) provides lessons for companies that wish to diversify their executive ranks.
Leading for Equity: The Pursuit of Excellence in Montgomery County Public Schools
(2009) outlines the way districts can transform schools to overcome
achievement gaps for diverse groups of students. His most recent
publication is a volume coedited with Laura Morgan Roberts and Anthony
J. Mayo:
Race, Work, and Leadership: New Perspectives on the Black Experience (2019).
Thomas
serves on several boards, including the American Red Cross, Commonfund,
and DTE Energy. Previously, he served on the boards of Brigham and
Women’s Hospital, Cambridge Trust Company, and the Posse Foundation. He
has been a consultant on cultural diversity, mentorship, and
organizational change for 100 of the Fortune 500 companies and has
worked with nonprofit and government organizations. He received a
bachelor’s degree in administrative sciences from Yale University, a
master’s degree in organizational psychology from Columbia University,
and master’s and doctoral degrees in organizational behavior also from
Yale University.