Jessica D. Thomas

Jessica Thomas serves as director of strategic initiatives at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), a leading international affairs think tank, membership organization, and publisher. Thomas began with the organization in 2013, and currently builds strategic partnerships to advance institutional efforts. Having lived most of her life in five developing West African countries, Thomas has directed her career toward globally-focused endeavors. She began in 2008 at the International Service Center, a multicultural social service agency whose clients were newly-arrived refugees and immigrants from around the world. She transitioned in 2010 and spent the following three years in two consultancies in the gender and rights unit at UNICEF Headquarters, working in the programs department of Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), and completing other contract work before arriving at CFR. In addition to her current role at CFR, she is grateful to advance the organization’s efforts in promoting diversity and inclusion by co-chairing CFR’s first employee resource group on the subject. Thomas has a BA in Human Development and Family Science from Messiah College and an MS in Global Affairs from New York University.