David A. Thomas

David A. Thomas, Ph.D., is the 12th president of Morehouse College. Since his installment in January 2018, he has led dynamic, purpose-driven advancement in Morehouse’s strategic and operational effectiveness, programmatic reach, and pedagogical innovation. Among other transformational successes, Dr. Thomas has overseen a fundraising acceleration which has generated more than $200 million since his arrival—a giving total during his tenure that is higher than during any other presidential tenure in the history of the college and has accelerated through a $500 million comprehensive capital campaign. Under his leadership, Morehouse has extended its reach by launching its first online degree programs and has amplified its positioning as a center of intellectual discourse and social engagement in areas such as global leadership, professional equity, social justice, and innovation.

Dr. Thomas is internationally recognized for his expertise in organizational management and higher education leadership. Before becoming president of Morehouse, he served as the H. Naylor Fitzhugh Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, as dean and William R. Berkley Chair at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, and as an assistant professor at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. While at McDonough, Dr. Thomas led a successful $130 million capital campaign, a redesign of the MBA curriculum, and the launch of the school’s first online degree program. He has consulted on issues relating to organizational change, diversity, and inclusion for 100 of the Fortune 500 companies.

An award-winning author and contemporary thought leader in organizational management and executive development, Thomas co-wrote three books: Race, Work, and Leadership: New Perspectives on the Black Experience; Breaking Through: The Making of Minority Executives in Corporate America; and Leading for Equity: The Pursuit of Excellence in Montgomery County. He has written or co-written almost eighty book chapters, cases, and teaching notes, along with more than two dozen scholarly articles, including Getting Serious About Diversity: Enough Already with the Business Case, which won the 2020 HBR McKinsey Award as the best Harvard Business Review article of the year.

In 2022, Georgia Trend named him one of the “100 Most Influential Georgians.” Savoy Magazine named him one of the “Most Influential Black Corporate Directors” and Atlanta Magazine named him one of “Atlanta’s 500 Most Powerful Leaders.” He is the recipient of Washington Business Journal’s “Minority Business Leader of the Year” award and the National Executive Forum’s 2020 Beacon Award, among other honors. He serves on the boards of DTE Energy, Commonfund, Vanguard, and Yale Corporation, where he is the alumni fellow. He is also a senior advisor for Grain Management.

Dr. Thomas earned a Ph.D. in organizational behavior studies and a Master of Philosophy in organizational behavior, both from Yale University. He also earned a Master of Organizational Psychology from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Administrative Sciences from Yale College.