Previously, Dr. Thomas served as the corporate director of marketing and media at Living Word Christian Center and Bill Winston Ministries, headquartered in the Chicago greater metropolitan area and in South Africa. Before her work in the nonprofit sector, she held several sales and brand management positions with Xerox Corporation, Pepsi-Cola Company, and Kraft Foods, as well as strategic planning and business development posts with Sears Roebuck & Company.
Dr. Thomas served as a national advisory board member to the United States Small Business Administration. She also served as a board member of Integra Ventures, a nonprofit venture capital group designed to facilitate entrepreneurial growth in Eastern and Central Europe. She currently serves as a board member of the Merge Summit, an organization designed to integrate faith with the arts and entertainment industry in Hollywood. Dr. Thomas recently joined two for-profit boards with Datalingual Analytics, a data analytics company based in South Carolina, and JBSA Capital, a private equity firm based in South Africa.
Dr. Thomas holds a bachelor's degree in marketing from Bentley University, MBA from Harvard University Graduate School of Business, and Ph.D. in organizational leadership with a focus on entrepreneurial leadership from Regent University School of Business and Leadership.
Dr. Thomas was selected for the Notable Woman in Education Award in the May 28, 2018, edition of Crain’s Chicago Business. She was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2017 as a member of her high school girls outdoor track team. She also successfully completed three 26.2-mile marathons in 2002, 2003, and 2004. ProQuest published Dr. Thomas’ dissertation, Awareness of God, Intrinsic Religious Motivation, Calling, and Entrepreneurial Self- Efficacy: A Quantitative Evaluation of Entrepreneurial Intention and Alertness to Entrepreneurial Opportunity. She also authored the book Awaken to Leadership and was a contributing author for a book published by Palgrave McMillian, Organizational Metaphor: Faith as Key to Functional Organizations.