Biography of Dr. Roosevelt Thomas

For over 20 years, Dr. R. Roosevelt Thomas, Jr., has been at the forefront of developing and implementing innovative concepts and strategies for maximizing organizational and individual potential through Diversity Management. He currently serves as the President & CEO of Roosevelt Thomas Consulting & Training, Inc. and President of The American Institute for Managing Diversity (AIMD).

In 1984, concerned about the inability of America’s organizations to maximize the contribution of diverse employees, Dr. Thomas founded AIMD as a non-profit research and education enterprise. He and his staff became known as the seminal source for managing diversity concepts and strategies. The team focused initially on workforce diversity. They later expanded their focus to create a diversity framework for addressing general management issues such as change management, functional coordination, the integration of multiple lines of business, and acquisitions and mergers.

Dr. Thomas is the author of five published books: Building on the Promise of Diversity: How We Can Move to the Next Level in our Workplaces, Our Communities, and Our Society; Building a House for Diversity: A Fable about a Giraffe and an Elephant offers New Strategies for Today’s Workforce; Redefining Diversity; Differences Do Make a Difference; and Beyond Race and Gender. Unleashing the Power of Your Total Work Force by Managing Diversity. He is also the author of numerous articles, such as the Harvard Business Review article “From Affirmative Action to Affirming Diversity,” which alerted Corporate America to the need for moving beyond EEO in addressing the challenge of empowering a diverse workforce.

Dr. Thomas earned a D.B.A. in Organizational Behavior from Harvard University, an M.B.A. in Finance from the University of Chicago, and a B.A. in Mathematics Summa Cum Laude from Morehouse College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He has also served as Secretary of Morehouse College, Dean of the Graduate School of Business Administration at Atlanta University, assistant professor at the Harvard Business School, and instructor at Morehouse College.

In 2005, Dr. Thomas was the recipient of Bennett College’s Chief Diversity Officers Forum’s “Trailblazer in Diversity Award.” In 1998, the National Academy of Human Resources elected and installed Dr. Thomas as a Fellow. He has also been recognized by The Wall Street Journal as one of the top ten consultants in the country, and cited by Human Resource Executive as one of HR’s Most Influential People. In 1995, he received the American Society for Training and Development’s “Distinguished Contribution to Human Resource Development” Award. Dr. Thomas joined the Society for Human Resource Management’s Board of Directors in 2003.