My life purpose is to help Leaders lead with love, not fear. And Modern lives this by not only ensuring organizations hire the right leaders, but by including the leader's integration as part of their standard engagement. With Modern, I get to do what I love - help leaders be successful and have a positive impact on the people around them.
Thomas is certified in several leadership assessments as well as a certified executive coach. He has a passion for coaching leaders to grow and be more successful by helping them identify their strengths and opportunity areas and putting together actionable behavior-based plans. Having been in many executive roles, he can relate directly to what it's like to lead large teams and be responsible for organization-wide results.
As a Chief People Officer and CHRO, Thomas has been recognized for leading talent and culture transformations that establish a competitive advantage and accelerate growth. He brings that – along with business savvy, P&L management experience, and a long-term strategic perspective – to his consulting practice, helping CEOs and senior executives grow their leadership skills, engage with the board, and build high performance teams.
Most recently, as Chief People Officer at TDECU, a $4 billion asset credit union, Thomas led a talent and culture transformation, including creating and integrating new corporate values promoting accountability and embracing change. This transformation was instrumental in driving a tremendous improvement in employee engagement, a reduction in turnover, and achieving a doubling of average annual growth in assets. He also developed a DEI strategy that doubled the percentage of people of color in the leadership ranks.
Previously, as Chief People Officer at First United Bank, Thomas helped mature and scale a high-growth company by establishing an organizational change management capability, developing a five-year strategic workforce plan, and creating a structured talent management process. As Chief Human Resources Officer at Hilltop Holdings, Inc., he developed and implemented programs to integrate four separate entities, captured cost savings by consolidating benefit programs, and established a consistent compensation structure that insured pay equity.
Thomas holds a Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Virginia Tech, a Master’s degree in Psychology from New Mexico State University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the University of Missouri.
