Ms. Thomas leads the implementation of ADB’s fragile and conflict-affected situations and small island developing states approach, which institutionalizes differentiated strategies to improve the performance of ADB’s operations in these contexts.
Prior to this, Ms. Thomas oversaw ADB's work on civil society engagement from its NGO and Civil Society Center. She designed and implemented a series of reforms including how ADB tracks and measures civil society engagement, and she boosted civil society participation in ADB operations.
Additionally, Ms. Thomas has experience preparing and administering projects in the social sectors and oversaw a large and diverse portfolio of projects in Southeast Asia, including secondary education in Viet Nam, HIV prevention in Myanmar, community development in the Philippines, and technical vocational and higher education in Lao PDR.
At the start of Ms. Thomas’s ADB career, she strengthened ADB-civil society-government collaboration from both the NGO and Civil Society Center and the Southeast Asia department.
Prior to joining ADB in 2009, Ms. Thomas’s experience was with NGOs- large, small, local and international. She was country director of 2 large international NGOs, one in Kenya and one in South Sudan. She lived 10 years in Africa, over half of which were based in small villages and towns. She gained four years of work experience in Asia, also all in rural communities. Her 14 years in the field gives her a strong grassroots perspective and offers evidence of what makes development successful.
Ms. Thomas has a master’s degree in international affairs, with a major in international economics and social change and development from the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of Johns Hopkins University. She received her bachelor’s degree from Kenyon College with honors where she majored in mathematics and Latin American studies. She is a national of the United States.